^be  Hiioms  of  IReUafon 


XLbc  Bxiom^  ot 

A  New  Interpretation  of  the  Baptist  Faith 

je.  1?.  muUtne,  D,  D„  XX.  5). 

President  of 
Southern  Baptist  Theological  Seminary 

Author  of 
"Why  is  Christianity  True?" 


rtpl 


Philadelphia 

Smctlcan  Bapttst  jpublication  Socictis 

Boston  Chicago  Atlanta 

New  York        St.  Louis  Dallas 


Copyright  1908  by  the 
Ambrican  Baptist  Publication  Society 


Published  February,  1908 


^rom  tbe  Society's  own  prees 


nui?  miu 


SYMPATHETIC    AND    DISCRIMINATING    CRITIC 

PATIENT  HELPER  AND  INSPIRING  COMPANION 

IN   ALL   MY   WORK 

THIS    VOLUME    IS    LOVINGLY    INSCRIBED 


PREFACE 

The  motives  which  led  to  the  preparation  of  this 
volume  are  set  forth  in  the  first  chapter.  For  a 
number  of  years  the  author  has  felt  that  a  fresh 
statement  of  the  Baptist  position  was  possible  which 
would  enable  the  world  to  understand  us  better.  A 
series  of  addresses,  including  one  before  the  Ameri- 
can Baptist  Publication  Society  in  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  in 
1905,  another  the  same  year  at  The  Baptist  World 
Congress  in  London,  England,  two  addresses  in 
Richmond,  Va.,  in  1906,  before  Richmond  College 
and  The  Baptist  General  Association,  and  another 
at  the  Baptist  Convention  of  North  America,  at 
Jamestown,  in  1907,  set  forth  in  one  form  or  another 
the  principles  which  are  elaborated  in  the  following 
pages.  Upon  the  occasion  of  each  of  the  above 
addresses  the  writer  was  urged  by  many  to  ex- 
pand the  views  expressed  into  a  book.  This  he  has 
here  attempted  to  do,  and  submits  the  result  to  the 
judgment  of  his  brethren. 

The  aim  has  been  constructive  and  irenic  in  the 
highest  sense.  Of  course  the  author  has  frankly 
taken  issue  with  those  of  other  faiths  in  the  exposi- 
tion of  his  own  views  where  occasion  required.  But 
the  chief  object  in  view  has  been  to  expound  New 

7 


PREFACE 


Testament  Christianity  in  some  of  the  more  funda- 
mental and  important  aspects.  God  has  given  to  the 
Baptists  of  the  world  a  great  and  sublime  task  in 
the  promulgation  of  principles  on  the  preservation 
of  which  the  spiritual  and  political  hopes  of  the 
world  depend.  In  America  the  Baptists  have  had  a 
marvelous  growth  in  influence,  in  numbers,  in 
wealth,  and  all  other  forms  of  power.  We  are,  in 
spite  of  our  vast  territory,  our  great  numbers,  and 
our  emphasis  upon  individualism,  a  remarkably 
homogeneous  people.  The  author  hopes  that  in  the 
pages  which  follow  will  be  found  some  contribution 
toward  the  higher  thinking,  the  deepening  spirit- 
uality, and  the  increasing  unity  and  practical  effi- 
ciency of  our  people. 

It  should  be  remarked  that  the  sixteenth  chapter 
is  almost  an  exact  reproduction  of  the  address  at 
Jamestown  in  May,  1907,  on  the  "  Contribution  of 
Baptists  to  American  Civilization."  Chapters  three 
and  four  are,  in  part,  the  address  delivered  for  the 
Baptist  Historical  Society  of  Virginia  in  November, 
1906,  at  Richmond  College.  There  are  some  slight 
differences  of  style  as  between  these  chapters  and 
the  remainder  of  the  book  which  are  to  be  accounted 
for  by  the  fact  that  they  were  first  given  as 
addresses. 

E.    Y.    M. 
Louisville,  Ky. 


CONTENTS 

Chapter  Page 

I.  The  New  Test  of  Denominationalism     .    .    ii 

II.  Denominationalism  in  Terms  of  the  King- 

dom OF  God 27 

III.  The  Historical  Significance  of  the  Bap- 

tists  44 

IV.  The  Soul's  Competency  in  Religion    ...    59 

V.  The  Axioms  of  Religion 70 

VI.  The  Theological  Axiom 79 

VII.  The  Religious  Axiom 92 

VIII.  The  Ecclesiastical  Axiom 127 

IX.  The  Moral  Axiom 150 

X.  Christian  Nurture 168 

XI.  The  Religio-civic  Axiom 185 

XII.  The  Social  Axiom 201 

XIII.  Baptists  and  General  Organization    .    .    .212 

XIV.  Baptists  and  Christian  Union 221 

XV.  Institutional  and  Anti-institutional  Chris- 

tianity     235 

XVI.  The    Contribution     of    the    Baptists    to 

American  Civilization 255 

XVII.  Baptists  and  World  Progress 277 


The  Axioms  of  Religion 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   NEW   TEST  OF  DENOMINATIONALISM 

Each  recurring  season  brings  a  new  test  to  the 
trees  of  a  forest.  This  oak  perished  because  the 
foes  which  attacked  it  were  too  great  for  its 
powers  of  resistance.  That  pine  was  laid  low  because 
a  fierce  wind  struck  it  at  a  new  angle  and  thus 
discovered  the  one  weak  spot  in  its  hold  upon  the 
earth.  Under  pressure  of  wind  and  snow  that  an- 
cient elm  was  split  in  two.  The  next  season  some 
neighbors  of  these  go  down  for  kindred  reasons, 
while  others  remain  standing  throughout  many 
generations. 

The  centuries  are  to  institutions  what  adverse  con- 
ditions are  to  the  forest  trees.  Changing  circum- 
stances bring  fresh  tests  of  endurance.  The  weak  or 
decrepit  succumb,  the  strong  survive.  Some  are  so 
modified  by  environment  that  they  lose  their  original 
characteristics  entirely.  Others  are  purged  of  dross 
and  purified  and  unfold  more  fully  their  distinctive 


THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 


life  and  power.  Still  others  coalesce  with  kindred 
institutions  and  together  under  a  new  combination 
life  and  progress  are  achieved. 

Since  the  Reformation  denominationalism  has 
been  the  characteristic  expression  of  Christianity 
on  its  ecclesiastical  side.  The  right  of  private 
judgment  and  freedom  from  ecclesiastical  superiors, 
that  priceless  boon  of  modern  believers,  has  led  to 
great  variety  in  the  interpretation  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. The  touchstone  hitherto  has  been  conformity 
to  the  teachings  of  the  Scriptures.  This  battle  has 
been  waged  long  and  it  may  be  truly  said  that  at 
length  it  is  virtually  at  an  end.  At  least  this  is 
true  in  the  realm  of  scholarship  and  among  thinkers 
generally,  although  on  the  popular  side  it  progresses 
still.  So  far  as  explicit  New  Testament  teaching  is 
concerned  there  are  no  important  points  left  un- 
settled among  scholars  as  to  the  organization  and 
polity  of  the  church.  Men  do  not  hesitate,  however, 
to  reject  New  Testament  teaching  on  these  points 
in  the  interest  of  a  theory  of  development  or  for 
other  reasons  when  it  suits  their  purposes,  and  they 
seek  to  justify  the  procedure  in  many  ways. 

New  Test  of  Denominationalism. 

Practical  conditions  among  us  are  to-day  impos- 
ing a  new  test  upon  denominationalism.  This  test 
when  fully  applied  will  not,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
writer,  involve  a  rejection  of  New  Testament  teach- 
ings.     It   will    rather   supplement   those   teachings 


THE  NEW  TEST  OF  DENOMINATIONALISM  I3 

and  corroborate  them  in  a  new  way.  The  prog- 
ress of  events  and  the  conditions  of  Christian 
work  are  the  best  interpreters  of  Scripture.  Chris- 
tianity is  Hke  a  knife  of  many  blades  and  other  de- 
vices to  be  used  in  turn  as  need  arises.  There  is 
this  difference  however.  In  Christianity  many  of 
the  blades  are  concealed  from  view  until  new  emer- 
gencies bring  to  light  their  presence  and  use.  Every 
interpretation  of  Scripture  assumes,  or  should  as- 
sume, the  divinely  adapted  fitness  of  Scripture  to 
human  need.  History  reacts  upon  and  explains 
exegesis  in  many  ways,  just  as  the  growth  of  a 
tree  reveals  what  was  lying  potent  in  the  seed,  and 
as  the  progress  of  a  building  sheds  light  on  the  pre- 
liminary plans  of  the  architect.  Thus  we  are  slowly 
obtaining  an  exposition  of  our  exegesis.  We  are 
unfolding  it  into  its  implications  and  enlarging  it 
into  its  logical  and  necessary  outcome. 

The  nature  of  the  practical  test  which  we  refer 
to  may  be  understood  by  a  brief  glance  at  some  of 
the  problems  and  perils  which  confront  all  Chris- 
tian bodies  to-day.  These  are  for  the  most  part 
problems  of  adjustment  of  one  kind  or  other. 

Problems  of  Adjustment. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  these  is  the  problem 
of  doctrinal  adjustment.  In  all  denominations  there 
is  a  pronounced  movement  of  thought  on  doctrinal 
teaching.  It  has  assumed  acute  forms  in  most  of 
the   evangelical  bodies   in   heresy  trials   in   recent 


14  THE    AXIOMS    OF   RELIGION 

years.  The  lines  of  doctrinal  cleavage  are  as  radi- 
cal as  at  any  time  in  the  past,  but  the  issues  are  new. 
As  usual  the  extreme  parties  are  doing  most  of 
the  harm.  On  one  side  is  the  ultra-conservative, 
the  man  of  the  hammer  and  anvil  method,  who 
relies  chiefly  upon  denunciation  of  opponents,  and 
who  cannot  tolerate  discussion  on  a  fraternal  basis; 
on  the  other  is  the  ultra-progressive  whose  lofty 
contempt  of  the  "  traditionalist  "  shuts  him  out  from 
the  ranks  of  sane  scholarship  and  wise  leadership. 
The  really  safe  leaders  of  thought,  however,  are 
between  these  extremes.  They  are  men  who  have 
sympathy  on  the  one  hand  with  those  who  are  per- 
plexed by  the  difficulties  to  faith  occasioned  by 
modern  science  and  philosophy,  and  on  the  other  are 
resolved  to  be  loyal  to  Christ  and  his  gospel.  Out 
of  this  situation  arise  two  urgent  questions.  The 
first  is  this :  What  is  the  regulative  principle  of 
doctrinal  growth  and  progress?  The  second  is: 
What  are  the  limits  of  doctrinal  divergence  within 
the  pale  of  the  denominational  life? 

As  to  the  first  of  these  two  questions  few  will 
venture  to  assert  that  doctrinal  statements  are  per- 
manently stereotyped  in  any  particular  creed  or 
book  of  theology  which  has  appeared  in  the  course 
of  the  Christian  centuries;  that  the  plates  are,  so 
to  speak,  in  their  final  form,  to  be  stowed  away  for 
safe  keeping  in  the  ecclesiastical  vault  and  to  be 
used  for  new  editions  when  the  old  are  exhausted. 
Such  a  claim  would  be  tantamount  to  a  claim  that 


THE  NEW  TEST  OF  DENOMINATIONALISM  I5 


said  plates  are  inspired  and  that  God  has  withdrawn 
his  Holy  Spirit  from  modern  investigators  in  so 
far  as  their  labors  are  designed  to  enlarge  or  deepen 
or  modify  past  interpretations  of  Scripture,  or  to 
discover  new  side-lights  upon  Scripture  from  any 
department  of  science.  Respecting  the  second  ques- 
tion, as  to  the  limits  of  doctrinal  difference,  there 
is  much  divergence  of  view  among  the  denomina- 
tions themselves,  and  often  within  the  pale  of  the 
particular  denomination.  It  would  be  a  great  stride 
forward  if  our  thinking  on  these  two  matters  could 
be  clarified. 

Another  question  of  adjustment  presses,  and  that 
is  of  the  denominations  to  each  other.  What  shall  be 
our  attitude  on  the  great  question  of  Christian  union  ? 
Are  the  denominations  free  to  ignore  this  issue 
and  in  so  doing  can  they  remain  loyal  to  the  Master 
who  prayed  that  his  people  might  all  be  one  ?  It  has 
become  clear  that  artificially  devised  union  among 
the  various  bodies  can  never  be  permanently  eflfected. 
Recent  examples  also  warn  us  against  premature 
attempts  at  union  even  among  closely  related  bodies. 
And  yet  there  remains  before  us  the  reproach  of  a 
divided  Christendom  and  in  many  instances  an 
apparent  waste  of  resources  in  fields  where  churches 
are  multiplied  beyond  the  needs  of  the  communities. 
So  long,  however,  as  the  consciences  of  Christians 
revolt  at  compromise  or  surrender  of  what  they 
regard  as  the  will  of  Christ  for  them,  we  cannot 
hope  for  a  radical  cure  of  these  evils.    It  behooves 


l6  THE   AXIOMS    OF   RELIGION 

US,  therefore,  to  recognize  that  permanent  Chris- 
tian union  is  to  be  realized  only  by  training  the  con- 
science by  means  of  the  truth,  and  to  ask  what  are 
the  fundamental  lines  along  which  this  training 
should  proceed. 

Christianity  and  Social  Service, 

There  is  also  the  matter  of  the  adjustment  of  our 
Christianity  to  social  service.  There  are  many  who 
feel  strongly  that  at  this  point  has  the  church  of 
modern  times  most  deeply  sinned.  They  think  the 
church  has  been  too  much  like  a  star  blazing  above 
men  to  show  the  way  to  the  next  life.  They  think 
it  should  seek  to  become  a  lantern  in  whose  light 
men  may  walk  in  the  dark.  Accusations  are  fre- 
quent that  church  and  ministry  are  indifferent  to 
social  conditions.  Smug,  prosperous,  and  contented 
church-members,  and  genial  ease-loving  pastors, 
so  we  are  told,  live  their  lives  and  maintain  their 
worship  in  oblivion  of  the  tragedy  and  struggle  of 
the  masses,  and  careless  of  the  cruelty  and  oppres- 
sion of  wealth.  The  charge  is  of  course  far  from 
being  the  whole  truth.  It  is  in  part  a  case  of  mis- 
understanding, due  to  a  difference  of  view  as  to  the 
relative  values  and  of  method. 

To  the  best  elements  in  the  churches  the  material 
is  not  valued  so  highly  as  the  moral  and  spiritual. 
Hence  with  them  inequalities  in  economic  conditions 
do  not  press  so  painfully  upon  consciousness  as 
among  those  to  whom  the  material  is  of  primary 


THE    NEW    TEST   OF   DENOMINATIONALISM  I7 

importance.  Those  who  are  without  the  moral 
discipHne  to  endure  hard  conditions  with  cheer- 
fulness, or  who  see  all  things  in  the  perspective  of 
this  life  alone  are  at  a  serious  disadvantage  here. 
The  misunderstanding  is  due  in  part  also  to  a  dif- 
ference in  view  as  to  the  method  of  ameliorating 
human  conditions.  The  church  has  said,  make  the 
tree  good  and  the  fruit  will  be  good.  Give  men 
spiritual  natures  and  you  will  thus  regulate  society 
best;  whereas  the  critics  have  insisted  that  she 
forsake  evangelism  for  the  other  department  of 
service.  When  all  is  said,  however,  it  must  be 
owned  that  a  Christianity  which  is  indifferent  or 
callous  to  moral  conditions  of  any  kind  is  abnormal 
and  imperfect,  and  it  must  also  be  owned  that 
evangelism  does  not  exhaust  the  programme  of  the 
churches  of  Jesus  Christ.  We  need,  therefore,  a 
clearer  grasp  of  the  nature  and  limits  of  the  social 
duties  of  the  church.  We  need  a  view  on  this  point 
which  can  be  intelligently  advocated,  propagated, 
and  defended,  and  at  the  same  time  adjusted  to 
other  departments  of  duty  and  service.  Is  the 
church  of  Christ  in  relation  to  social  questions  a 
square  peg  in  a  round  hole?  Is  it  a  misfit  in  social 
effort  or  is  it  unfit?  If  not,  how  can  it  be  made  to 
fit? 

On  the  Foreign  Mission  Field. 

On  the  foreign  mission  fields  a  new  situation  has 
arisen  in  connection  with  the  increasing  growth  and 


THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 


triumph  of  our  missionary  labors.  What  form  of 
Christianity  is  best  adapted  to  the  civihzations  of 
the  East  ?  Is  it  wise  to  attempt  to  urge  our  Western 
forms  of  ecclesiastical  organization  upon  the  Orient? 
Should  there  be  a  fusion  of  the  various  Christian 
elements  in  India,  China,  and  Japan,  into  as  many 
national  or  racial  organizations,  which  shall  omit 
the  distinctive  features  of  the  West?  These  are 
vital  questions  to-day  in  all  these  countries  and  will 
engage  attention  in  increasing  measure  in  the  near 
future. 

There  is  another  matter  of  far-reaching  signifi- 
cance. How  are  the  various  denominations  to  pre- 
serve a  loyalty  so  intense  as  to  make  them  compact 
and  united  in  aim,  and  so  inspired  by  a  common 
spirit  as  to  render  them  useful  ?  When  the  modern 
denominations  were  in  process  of  formation  con- 
troversy was  the  bellows  which  kept  hot  the  fires 
of  zeal.  Competition  in  missionary  effort  has 
played  a  similar  part  in  more  recent  years.  No 
one  can  question  that  controversy  is  a  duty  when 
circumstances  demand  it  and  truth  is  in  peril.  It 
will  never,  under  earthly  conditions,  cease  to  be 
necessary  within  certain  limits.  But  it  is  quite  gen- 
erally agreed  in  our  day  that  propagandism 
through  interdenominational  controversy  has  in 
large  measure  served  its  day.  The  spirit  of  the  age 
frowns  upon  such  controversy,  and  the  man  who  has 
no  gift  for  other  forms  of  service  finds  himself  in 
a  constantly  narrowing  field  of  usefulness.     And 


THE   NEW    TEST  OF   DENOMINATIONALISM  I9 

yet  as  we  face  the  situation  created  by  a  long-delayed 
Christian  union,  and  at  the  same  time  by  a  tendency 
to  denominational  dissolution  we  are  in  danger  of 
resolving  our  Christianity  back  into  a  mass  of  un- 
related and  non-cohesive  atoms.  There  is  indeed 
a  marked  movement  toward  an  anti-institutional, 
anti-ecclesiastical,  and  wholly  individualistic  Chris- 
tianity. The  period  of  the  judges  in  Israel,  of  the 
little  city  democracies  in  the  period  of  their  anarchy 
and  decline  in  Greece,  and  of  the  breaking  up  of 
Europe  into  feudalism  in  the  Middle  Ages,  are 
historic  analogues  which  suggest  the  possible  out- 
come of  such  a  movement.  The  man  who  is  un- 
attached to  any  religious  organization,  or  equally 
attached  to  all,  may  of  course  exert  some  local  in- 
fluence for  good  combined  with  a  very  bad  exam- 
ple of  a  false  individualism.  But  he  will  lose  all 
that  splendid  opportunity  for  service  which  comes  of 
a  life  reenforced  by  thousands  of  others  united  and 
organized  and  aggressive  in  the  pursuit  of  common 
ends.  If  the  mass  of  individual  Christians  is  to 
become  simply  a  vortex  ring  of  dancing  atoms, 
each  moving  aimlessly  around  its  own  center,  Chris- 
tianity will  soon  spend  itself. 

A  New  Cohesive  Principle  Needed. 

There  must  be,  then,  some  motive  or  incentive 
or  cohesive  principle  strong  enough  to  give  unity  to 
each  of  the  religious  bodies  if  these  bodies  are  to 
continue  their  careers  of  usefulness.     Denomina- 


THE   AXIOMS    OF    RELIGION 


tional  self-respect,  a  sense  of  a  divine  calling  and 
mission,  must  possess  any  religious  body  which 
counts  for  much  in  the  world.  The  prophetic  mood, 
which  implies  that  the  soul  is  conquered  by  some 
great  truth  or  truths,  and  seeks  passionately  and 
restlessly  to  propagate  those  truths,  is  a  prime  con- 
dition of  power. 

Now  if  the  vigor  and  intensity  of  this  pro- 
phetic burden  can  no  longer  be  produced,  as 
in  the  formative  period  of  denominationalism, 
by  the  sense  of  discovery  in  the  realm  of  truth  and 
experience  and  by  competition  and  conflict,  we 
must  somehow  find  another  incentive.  Some  moral 
equivalent  must  be  found  which  will  serve  to  im- 
pel us  forward  with  something  like  the  pristine 
energy  and  persistence.  The  most  intense  denomi- 
nationalists  are  often  animated  by  this  feeling  in 
their  assertive  insularity  and  their  feeling  of  re- 
pugnance toward  suggestions  of  Christian  union. 
They  are  afraid  of  lukewarmness  and  lack  of  force. 
It  is  certainly  true  that  negative  moods  do  not  win  in 
religion.  None  of  the  higher  forms  of  spiritual  re- 
ligion have  ever  made  wide  progress  merely  as  a 
leaven.  Aggressive  advocacy  by  deeply  earnest  indi- 
viduals is  the  sole  condition.  The  hardest  metals  can 
be  melted  if  you  get  a  fire  hot  enough.  All  church 
problems  are  at  bottom  problems  of  spiritual  tem- 
perature. God's  Spirit  supplies  the  flame.  Earthly 
conditions  furnish  the  fuel.  Well-directed  effort 
raises  the  temperature  to  the  desired  point. 


the  new  test  of  denominationalism      21 

Pressure  Felt  by  All  Religious  Bodies. 

All  the  evangelical  churches  have  felt  the  pres- 
sure of  the  problems  and  difficulties  outlined  above. 
Among  Methodists,  Presbyterians,  and  Episcopa- 
lians, there  have  been  heresy  trials  which  have  at- 
tracted national  if  not  world-wide  attention  in 
recent  years,  and  all  alike  feel  the  urgency  of  the 
missionary,  social,  and  other  aspects  of  the  problems. 
Baptists  have  also  felt  these  conditions  and  experi- 
enced similar  embarrassment  at  certain  points.  With 
the  Baptists  all  the  perplexities  are  dealt  with  in  a 
more  direct  and  simple  way  than  is  the  case  with 
the  other  more  complex  and  highly  organized 
bodies.  But  among  Baptists  there  are  conditions 
peculiar  to  themselves  which  call  for  attention. 
For  one  thing  Baptists  have  increased  in  numbers 
and  in  wealth  so  rapidly  that  these  two  elements 
alone  have  created  many  problems.  How  shall  these 
vast  numbers  be  made  thoroughly  homogeneous  in 
spirit  and  aim?  How  may  they  be  enlisted  in  the 
aggressive  enterprises  of  a  militant  and  conquering 
missionary  gospel?  How  shall  our  vast  wealth  be 
drawn  into  the  service  of  the  kingdom  of  God? 

Then  too,  out  of  our  doctrine  of  independence,  how 
shall  we  realize,  in  any  adequate  manner,  the  com- 
plementary principle  of  interdependence?  Baptists 
must  face  this  problem  with  renewed  interest  in 
order  to  avoid  serious  waste  and  great  loss  of 
power.     We  must  work  out  patiently  our  problem 


22  THE  AXIOMS   OF  RELIGION 

of  democracy  and  unity.  Experiment  has  been 
demonstrating  lately  the  startling  energy  of  a  wave 
of  the  sea.  The  power  of  the  impact  of  the  wave 
depends  upon  two  factors  apart  from  the  impelling 
wind.  One  is  the  elevation  of  its  center  of  gravity 
above  the  common  level  of  the  sea,  the  other  is  the 
rotary  motion  of  the  separate  drops  of  water  which 
enter  into  the  formation  of  the  wave.  Baptist  unity 
is  like  that,  not  of  a  block  of  granite,  but  of  a  wave 
of  the  sea.  Individual  energy  answers  to  the  ro- 
tation of  the  drops.  The  elevation  of  the  common 
life  of  the  churches  fixes  the  spiritual  center  of 
gravity.  The  breath  of  the  Spirit  of  God  is  the  im- 
pelling wind.  Our  energy  will  prove  resistless 
when  all  the  conditions  are  fulfilled. 

An  Anti-institutional  Christianity. 

There  is  one  extreme,  although  as  yet  quite  small, 
group  among  us  who  are  anti-institutional,  or  at 
least  anti-ceremonial  in  their  conception  of  Chris- 
tianity. They  are  ready  to  sacrifice  the  ordinances 
and  church  order  to  the  last  possible  limit  in  the 
interest  of  expediency.  They  want  the  spirit  of  re- 
ligion without^ a  body ;  or  at  least  they  want  only  an 
astral  body  which  is  unaflfected  by  ordinances  or 
forms.  A  few  others  would  centralize  our  Baptist 
polity  and  adopt  an  approach  to  a  Presbyterian  or 
Episcopal  church  order.  These  parties  are  not  large 
and  there  is  little  prospect  of  a  triumph  of  their 
views  in  America  at  least.     They  are  mentioned 


THE   NEW   TEST   OF   DENOMINATIONALISM         23 

merely  to  indicate  as  completely  as  may  be  the 
currents  and  eddies  of  our  denominational  life. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  enlarge  further  this  outline 
of  the  present  general  situation  of  the  various  re- 
ligious bodies.  Enough  has  been  said  to  indicate  the 
gravity  of  the  problems  which  press  for  solution, 
and  the  urgency  and  vastness  of  our  immediate  task 
as  Christians. 

Among  those  who  recognize  the  authority  of 
the  New  Testament  there  are  two  prevalent  general 
views  as  to  church  order.  One  insists  that  the  New 
Testament  gives  final  form  to  ecclesiastical  organiza- 
tion ;  the  other  contends  for  a  principle  of  develop- 
ment from  New  Testament  beginnings.  The  con- 
gregational bodies  represent  the  first  view  and  the 
episcopal  churches  the  development  principle.  Car- 
dinal Newman  has  given  the  most  consistent  ex- 
pression to  the  development  idea  in  his  well-known 
discussion  of  the  subject.  His  principles  of  develop- 
ment are  exactly  adapted  to  relieve  the  conscience  of 
the  man  who  has  left  the  Church  of  England  for 
the  Roman  Catholic  fold.  They  are  an  elaborate 
theoretical  vindication  of  Romanism.  One  of  their 
defects  is  that  they  do  not  conform  to  the  facts  of 
history  but  to  an  ideal.  Another  serious  and  vital 
fault  is  that  they  fail  to  show  that  in  the  Romish 
development  the  New  Testament  type  is  preserved. 
Newman's  introspection  led  him  into  the  subjective 
snare.  By  his  speculations  to  relieve  his  inward 
distress   he  opened   a  trap-door   in  his  own   floor 


24  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

through  which  he  fell  into  the  subcellar  of  an  out- 
grown system. 

Two  Issues. 

The  real  issues  between  the  two  theories,  the  con- 
gregational on  the  one  hand  and  the  episcopal  and 
presbyterial  on  the  other,  are  two.  First,  which 
best  preserves  the  New  Testament  principles  and 
ideals ;  second,  which  is  best  fitted  to  accomplish 
the  enlarging  task  of  Christianity  in  the  world.  On 
the  side  of  the  Scriptures  the  test  is  one  of  con- 
formity. On  the  practical  side  the  test  is  one  of 
adaptation  to  changing  and  enlarging  tasks.  We 
inherit  from  the  Reformation  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment the  first  test.  The  second  has  been  imposed 
upon  us  by  the  progress  of  events.  The  two  tests 
are  harmonious.  Indeed  they  are  mutually  regula- 
tive of  each  other.  It  is  a  flagrant  violation  of  the 
New  Testament  for  a  religious  body  to  ignore  con- 
ditions and  the  state  of  human  need.  In  meeting 
these  needs  in  any  serious  way  we  will  be  driven 
inevitably  to  the  New  Testament  principles. 

The  practical  test  is  the  one  which  presses  at  pres- 
ent. It  has  a  profound  bearing  upon  the  whole  move- 
ment of  an  ever-advancing  civilization,  as  well  as 
upon  the  deepest  religious  yearnings  and  aspirations 
of  the  human  spirit.  The  issue  is  taking  shape  in 
modern  thinking  in  many  forms.  It  may  be  stated 
in  various  ways.  Will  the  widening  tasks  and  in- 
creasing  burdens    of   the    churches    result    in    the 


THE   NEW    TEST  OF   DENOMINATIONALISM         25 

extension  of  the  principle  of  episcopacy,  or  will  the 
ever-growing  principle  of  democracy  gradually  un- 
dermine and  dissolve  episcopacy?  Is  the  genius  of 
Christianity  best  expressed  in  systems  of  corporate 
authority  or  in  those  of  corporate  freedom?  Is 
the  church  a  body  of  spiritual  equals  or  shall  it 
consist  of  a  group  of  inferiors  presided  over  by  an 
authoritative  group  of  superiors?  Does  it  conduce 
to  the  progress  of  Christianity  to  entrust  its  great 
interests  to  the  laity  as  well  as  clergy,  or  should 
the  power  of  the  laity  be  held  within  fixed  limits  by 
their  clerical  superiors  ? 

Fresh  Statements  Needed. 

Now  it  is  the  conviction  of  the  present  writer 
that  the  time  has  come  for  the  various  Christian 
bodies  to  give  a  fresh  account  of  themselves  to  the 
world,  and  in  an  entirely  new  way.  The  questions 
should  be  not  one  of  past  service  merely,  but  of 
fitness  for  present  service.  The  question  of  con- 
formity to  Scripture  properly  understood  always 
involves  the  total  question  of  conformity  to  racial 
needs  and  advancing  civilization.  Is  there  flexi- 
bility and  elasticity  or  is  there  rigidity  and  petrefac- 
tion?  Is  Christianity  conceived  as  a  rule  or  as  a 
principle?  Are  the  tests  those  of  life  or  those  of 
the  square  and  compass?  Do  the  church  polities 
contain  in  themselves  heterogeneous  and  alien  ele- 
ments or  are  they  in  harmony  with  the  genius  and 
spirit  as  well  as  the  express  teachings  of  the  New 


26  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

Testament?  What  contributions  have  the  various 
poUties  to  make  to  the  subjects  discussed  in  the  pre- 
ceding pages,  such  as  missions,  social  service,  Chris- 
tian union,  evangehsm,  civic  righteousness,  and 
family  hfe,  and  others? 

The  aim  of  this  book  is  to  make  this  statement 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  Baptists.  What  is 
the  distinctive  message  of  the  Baptists  to  the  world  ? 
How  far  does  our  simple  congregational  polity  em- 
body the  essential  things  in  New  Testament  Chris- 
tianity and  to  what  extent  is  it  adapted  to  the 
present  and  future  progress  of  the  gospel  on  earth? 
The  question  here  is  not  primarily  concerning  bap- 
tism or  the  Lord's  Supper  or  even  church  polity  as 
these  have  been  discussed  in  the  past.  The  attempt 
is  rather  to  state  our  case  in  the  light  of  primary 
and  universal  principles,  and  to  show  the  relation 
of  the  ordinances  and  polity  to  these  principles. 
These  principles  of  course  are  taken  from  the  New 
Testament.  The  authority  of  the  Scriptures  lies 
at  the  basis  of  our  plea.  We  do  not  believe  any  form 
of  Christianity  which  breaks  with  the  Scripture  as 
the  revealed  and  authoritative  word  of  God  can  long 
serve  the  interests  of  God's  kingdom  on  earth  in 
any  thoroughgoing  way.  Every  position,  therefore, 
which  we  assume  in  the  following  pages  is  either 
directly  or  indirectly  grounded  upon  the  revelation 
of  God  in  Christ  as  recorded  in  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  Scriptures. 


CHAPTER  II 

DENOMINATIONALISM  IN  TERMS  OF  THE  KINGDOM 
OF  GOD 

A  painted  rainbow  never  equals  a  real  one.  An 
artificial  diamond  lacks  the  brilliancy  of  one  made  in 
nature's  workshop.  The  human  touch  always  leaves 
its  mark  of  inferiority  when  brought  into  compari- 
son with  God's  handiwork.  This  is  true  in  religion 
as  well  as  in  nature.  We  must  constantly  return 
to  the  divine  standard  in  dealing  with  religious 
organizations. 

Church  Polity  and  Spiritual  Law. 

It  is  proposed  in  this  chapter  to  examine  denomi- 
nationalism  in  the  light  of  the  New  Testament  ideal 
of  the  kingdom  of  God;  or,  what  amounts  to  the 
same  thing,  to  consider  ecclesiastical  polity  as  over 
against  universal  spiritual  laws.  We  are  to  seek 
first  the  distinctive  ideals  and  principles  of  the 
religion  of  Christ,  and  then  to  ask  whether  or  not 
church  polity  bears  any  relation  to  them,  or  whether, 
on  the  contrary,  polity  is  solely  a  question  of  expe- 
diency. Or,  recurring  to  the  figure,  letting  the 
rainbow  answer  to  the  great  New  Testament  ideal 
of  the  kingdom  of  God,  do  the  religious  bodies  re- 
produce its  seven  colors  and  its  curve?    Or  is  there 

27 


28  THE   AXIOMS    OF   RELIGION 

any  necessary  relation  between  the  form  of  church 
organization  and  the  ideal  of  the  kingdom  ?  Do  the 
churches  need  the  kingdom  in  determining  their 
polities  ?  We  approach  our  subject  by  analyzing  the 
ideal  of  the  kingdom  into  some  of  its  constituent 
parts. 

The  first  point  to  be  noted  is  that  the  kingdom  of 
God  brings  to  us  a  personal  as  distinguished  from 
a  positive  religion.  That  is,  it  is  not  a  set  of  legal 
enactments  put  down  in  a  book,  like  those  of  Mo- 
liammed  in  the  Koran,  to  be  obeyed  as  external 
statutes.  It  is,  on  the  contrary,  a  personal  religion. 
It  teaches  that  a  Person — God — took  the  initiative 
in  salvation,  and  that  a  person — man — responds  to  it. 
Primarily  then,  Christianity  is  a  relation  between 
persons — God  and  man.  The  method  of  all  legal  re- 
ligions is  that  of  the  command  and  the  prohibition. 
They  say  "  Thou  shalt,"  and  "  Thou  shalt  not,"  with 
the  result  that  human  nature  revolts,  or  else  tends  to 
obey  mechanically  rather  than  through  love.  "  When 
the  commandment  came  sin  revived  and  I  died,"  says 
Paul.  Human  nature  is  made  much  after  the  dis- 
position of  the  old  woman  in  the  walled  city  who 
had  never  desired  to  go  outside  the  walls  until  her 
friends  urged  her  to  remain  inside  until  death  that 
it  might  be  told  of  her.  Thenceforth  she  was  irre- 
sistibly impelled  to  go  outside  and  at  length  did 
so.  A  religion  which  commands  awakens  revolt, 
if  there  are  only  commands.  Christianity  as  a  per- 
sonal  religion   begins   with   faith.      Its   method   of 


DENOMINATIONALISM    IN  TERMS  OF  KINGDOM    2<-) 

growth  is  fellowship  with  God,  entering  into  his 
plans,  grasping  his  aims. 

The  Emphasis  on  Personality  and  Love. 

A  second  point  is  that  this  religion  of  the  kingdom 
and  of  personal  relationships  very  naturally  puts 
much  emphasis  upon  the  divine  personality  and  love, 
or  the  Fatherhood  of  God.  The  idea  of  the  kingdom 
teaches  that  the  realm  of  salvation  is  an  ordered 
sphere — that  in  it  laws  prevail.  The  idea  of  Father- 
hood shows  that  the  realm  of  salvation  is  more 
than  mere  law ;  that  it  is  the  sphere  of  the  highest, 
deepest,  and  tenderest  of  known  relationships — that 
between  father  and  son.  Those  in  the  kingdom  call 
God  Father,  and  those  who  call  God  Father  are 
swayed  and  molded  by  the  laws  which  are  of  the 
essence  of  the  kingdom.  These  two  conceptions, 
therefore,  are  not  contradictory  but  supplementary. 
Each  is  an  exhaustive  statement  of  the  contents  of 
Christ's  religion  in  its  own  way  and  from  its  own 
point  of  view ;  one  from  the  point  of  view  of  consti- 
tuted order,  the  other  from  the  point  of  view  of 
personal  relationships.^ 

The  next  note  which  distinguishes  the  kingdom 
is  the  principle  of  revelation.  Revelation  is  the 
method  and  guarantee  of  intercourse  between  the 
persons  who  enter  into  the  religious  relationships^ 
God  and  man.  Revelation  implies  the  kinship  be- 
tween God  and  man,  that  God  can  communicate  and 

*  Matt.    10  :  20;  6  :  5-15;   10  :  7,  8;  John  3  :  3,   16. 


30  THE   AXIOMS    OF    RELIGION 

man  receive  messages.  Revelation  implies  human 
capacity  for  God.^ 

The  fourth  distinctive  thing  in  this  religion  of 
the  kingdom  is  that  Christ  himself  is  the  medium 
of  revelation  and  redemption.  He  brings  God  near. 
God  comes  to  us  in  and  through  Christ;  we  ap- 
proach God  in  and  through  him.  He  is  the  revela- 
tion of  God  to  us.  The  soul  cannot  thrive  on  ab- 
stract notions  about  God,  just  as  a  bird  cannot  fly- 
in  a  vacuum,  or  a  tree  root  itself  in  a  bank  of  mist, 
or  as  a  vine  cannot  climb  a  moonbeam.  Christ  made 
the  idea  of  God  concrete.  Christ  is  God's  message 
to  man.  It  is  at  this  point  that  the  authoritative- 
ness  and  regulative  value  of  the  Scriptures  come 
into  view.  The  Scriptures  alone  enable  us  to  main- 
tain contact  with  the  Christ  of  history.  His  image 
grows  dim,  his  authority  over  the  soul  inevitably 
wanes  when  detached  from  the  historic  records. 
So  far  are  the  Scriptures  from  hindering  the  free 
intercourse  of  the  soul  with  Christ,  as  some  allege, 
that  we  may  assert  on  the  contrary  their  indispensa- 
bleness  to  that  free  intercourse.  These  records  are 
the  sheet-anchor  of  Christian  experience  and  of 
Christian  theology. 

Now  the  above  fundamental  qualities  and  attri- 
butes of  Christ's  religion  determine  by  necessity  and 
beforehand  its  methods  and  the  laws  of  its  practical 
development  in  the  world  and  the  forms  it  will 
assume. 

^Matt.   II  :  25-27;    I   Cor.  2  :  6-i6. 


denominationalism  in  terms  of  kingdom  3 1 

The  Practical  Unfolding  of  Ideals. 

Observe  then  the  stages  in  the  practical  unfold- 
ing of  these  ideals.  As  personal  it  will  be  the 
intercourse  of  persons,  one  person  speaking  to 
another.  As  an  ordered  kingdom  it  will  require 
exposition  of  its  laws.  As  fatherhood  and  sonship 
it  will  involve  an  attitude  of  filial  obedience  on  the 
part  of  man.  As  revelation  it  will  require  intelli- 
gence and  a  responsive  moral  nature. 

What  then  will  be  the  initial  stage  in  its  develop- 
ment on  earth?  It  will  take  the  form  of  a  word  of 
God — a  gospel.  The  first  gospel  was  the  incarnate 
Word  of  God,  and  afterward  the  "  good  news  "  of 
salvation  to  which  the  incarnation  gave  rise.  Ob- 
serve that  it  is  the  word  which  is  the  fivefold  symbol 
of  all  the  marks  of  the  kingdom  outlined  above. 
The  word  is  the  symbol  and  means  of  intercourse 
between  persons.  It  is  the  symbol  for  the  constitu- 
tion of  an  ordered  kingdom  among  intelligent  be- 
ings. Laws  cannot  be  enacted  without  words. 
Through  words  fatherhood  reveals  itself  and  by 
them  develops  and  unfolds  sonship.  It  is  the  only 
fitting  symbol  and  means  of  a  revelation  of  truth 
from  above.  It  is  taken  by  the  Evangelist  John  as 
the  descriptive  name  of  Christ  himself  in  his  func- 
tion as  revealer  of  God.  "  In  the  beginning  was  the 
Word." 

This  prominence  of  a  gospel,  or  a  word  of 
God,   will  emphasize  the  importance  of  prophecy 


32  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

and  preaching,  of  evangelism  and  teaching,  in  the 
progress  of  the  kingdom.  For  these  all  find  the 
reason  of  their  existence  in  the  idea  of  the  word. 
Thus  the  word  becomes  personalized  in  the  human 
agent  of  redemption.  This  is  the  way  of  the  king- 
dom. In  Gilbert  Parker's  novel  "  The  Right  of 
Way,"  Charlie  Steele  the  drunkard  struggled  in 
vain  against  his  appetite  until  a  human  love  and  a 
human  will  came  to  his  rescue  reenforcing  his  own 
feeble  will.  In  '  Les  Miserahles  "  Victor  Hugo  ex- 
hibits a  like  insight  into  the  divine  method.  The 
criminal  who  stole  the  candlesticks  from  the  bishop 
was  apprehended  and  made  to  face  the  owner,  but 
was  released  upon  the  assertion  of  the  good  bishop 
that  the  candlesticks  were  the  rightful  property  of 
the  thief.  You  no  longer  belong  to  yourself,  was 
the  bishop's  declaration,  but  to  God.  Afterward  the 
thief  passed  through  a  tragic  struggle,  alone  with 
God,  which  led  to  his  spiritual  regeneration.  But  in 
that  struggle  the  bishop's  forgiving  face  was  omni- 
present in  the  guilty  man's  imagination  and  con- 
science, and  had  for  him  almost  the  value  of  God. 
Thus  in  the  kingdom  of  God  the  human  mediator 
does  not  come  through  sacraments  and  exclusive 
religious  privileges  between  the  soul  and  its  God, 
but  enters  by  the  truth  and  love  into  the  life  to 
redeem  it.  Thus  man  again  incarnates  the  word, 
and  becomes  a  sort  of  burning  bush  of  divine  mani- 
festation to  save,  and  not  a  priestly  and  exclusive 
manipulator  of  sacraments. 


DENOMINATIONALISM   IN  TERMS  OF  KINGDOM      33 


Man's  Response  to  the  Word. 

What,  then,  will  be  the  answer  on  man's  part  to 
this  proclamation  and  incarnation  of  the  word?  The 
answer  is  faith.  Not  faith  in  the  sense  of  blind 
acceptance  of  hidden  mysteries ;  not  implicit  faith 
in  the  sense  of  acceptance  of  the  total  body  of  teach- 
ings of  an  infallible  church,  but  faith  in  the  biblical 
sense  of  an  intelligent  response  to  the  revelation  of 
truth  from  person  to  person.  This  faith  arouses 
the  entire  being,  the  intellect,  the  emotions,  the  will, 
and  the  moral  nature.  The  intellect  grasps  truth, 
the  emotions  are  drawn  out  by  trust  and  affection, 
the  will  yields  to  the  commanding  will  of  another, 
and  the  moral  nature  by  an  intuition  of  right  and 
wrong  puts  the  stamp  of  its  approval  upon  the  soul's 
act.  Christ  is  the  object  of  the  soul's  trust,  and  he 
thus  inducts  it  into  the  kingdom,  and  reveals  to  it 
God's  fatherhood. 

Observe  now  that  the  first  and  immediate  result 
or  attendant  circumstance  of  the  act  of  faith  is  re- 
generation and  redemption.  The  immanent  Spirit 
of  God  employs  the  word  of  truth  as  instrument, 
and  the  soul,  fully  aroused  in  all  its  parts,  is  brought 
forth  into  a  new  life — is  constituted  spiritually  a  son 
of  God,  and  translated  into  the  ordered  spiritual 
realm  of  God's  kingdom.^ 

As  this  spiritual  life  begins  in  a  believer  so  it 
continues.    "  As  ye  received  Christ  Jesus  the  Lord 

'  Mark  1:15;  John  3=3;  Rom.   5  :   i. 
C 


34  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

SO  walk  in  him,"  is  Paul's  injunction.  Faith  is  not 
only  the  initial  act  of  the  soul  in  response  to  the 
word;  it  is  also  generic  and  representative  of  the 
soul's  permanent  attitude.  All  the  after-life  of  the 
believer  is  a  projection  or  continuation  of  the  first 
act  of  faith.  The  open  mind  and  cognition  of  truth, 
the  obedient  will  trusting  Christ,  the  moral  intuition 
of  the  excellence  of  the  Christian  way — that  is, 
all  those  elements  of  the  first  act  of  faith  are  implicit 
in  all  the  believer's  relations  to  God  in  the  life  which 
follows.  Thus  by  repetition  of  the  initial  act  of 
faith  we  work  out  our  salvation.  It  is  like  making  a 
dotted  line  on  a  piece  of  paper  with  a  pencil.  First 
the  dots  are  wide  apart.  Then  we  fill  in  the  blank 
spaces  by  greater  fidelity  to  duty,  and  at  length  we 
make  the  line  black  and  continuous.  In  other  words, 
faith  is  no  longer  an  interrupted  and  occasional  but 
the  permanent  attitude  of  the  soul. 

Growth  in  grace  is  a  progressive  apprehension  of 
the  grace  which  came  when  the  soul  was  regener- 
ated. Salvation  and  sanctification  move  forward  in 
parallel  lines  with  faith  until  both  are  consummated 
in  the  salvation  to  be  revealed  at  the  last  time.  Faith 
then  at  the  beginning,  in  the  midst,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  Christian  life  is  the  characteristic  Christian  atti- 
tude. It  is  the  response  of  the  entire  spiritual  nature 
of  man  aroused  in  all  its  parts  to  the  approach  of  God 
the  Father,  through  the  revealing  Christ,  constitu- 
ting men  members  of  his  kingdom  through  his  word. 
The  above  set  of  forces  and  ideals  operating  in  the 


DENOMINATIONALISM   IN  TERMS  OF   KINGDOM     35 

manner  indicated  is  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth. 
This  is  the  kingdom  everywhere  proclaimed  by 
Christ. 

Spiritual  Affinity  Leads  to  Church 
Organization. 

Now  the  individuals  who  thus  respond  to  God 
by  faith  and  who  are  regenerated  by  his  grace  are 
inevitably  drawn  together  by  spiritual  affinity  into 
fellowship  with  each  other  through  Christ,  the  re- 
vealer  of  God  the  Father.  And  in  this  way  the 
church  arises.  It  comes  into  being  in  a  sense  just 
as  a  diamond  mine  comes  into  existence.  Diamonds 
are  usually  found,  not  scattered  broadcast  over  con- 
tinents, but  collected  at  certain  points.  This  is  be- 
cause the  heat  and  pressure  necessary  to  produce 
them  were  felt  at  these  particular  points.  Each  dia- 
mond was  born,  so  to  speak,  of  an  experience  com- 
mon to  all  the  rest.  What  shape  it  bore  in  its  pre- 
vious state  of  existence  matters  nothing.  By  some 
wondrous  act  of  change  nature  transformed  it.  Thus 
by  a  common  experience  of  God's  regenerating  grace 
the  church  arises.^  It  is  the  social  expression  of 
the  spiritual  experiences  common  to  a  number  of 
individuals.  The  basis  of  their  associations  together 
is  the  common  sense  of  need  due  to  sin — a  common 
experience  of  forgiveness  and  regeneration  through 
the  common  exercise  of  faith.  The  same  divine  heat 
and  pressure  acted  upon  them  all.    Identity  of  need, 

'  Acts  2  :  47. 


36  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

identity  of  grace  to  meet  it,  identity  of  privilege  in 
their  direct  fellowship  with  God,  and  identity  of 
obligation  to  make  known  to  others  the  good  news  of 
God's  grace — these  constitute  the  inner  side  of  the 
church's  justification  of  her  existence.  Christ's 
command  and  action  in  bringing  the  church  into 
existence  is  the  external  authority  which  constitutes 
the  ultimate  ground  of  its  life  and  being. 

The  relations  of  the  church  to  the  kingdom  are 
now  apparent.  The  kingdom  precedes  the  church 
in  the  order  of  time.  But  the  laws  and  ideals  of  the 
kingdom  give  form  to  the  church.  The  kingdom 
and  the  visible  church  are  not  identical.  But  the 
kingdom  imposes  upon  the  church  its  constitution 
and  prescribes  its  laws  and  determines  the  nature  of 
its  ordinances  and  organization.  It  has  been  said 
that  the  contour  of  every  leaf  bears  a  certain  re- 
semblance to  the  contour  of  the  tree  from  which  it 
is  taken.  This  may  or  may  not  be  true.  It  does 
contain  a  possible  analogy  for  spiritual  truth.  The 
local  church  is  like  a  leaf  on  the  tree  of  the  kingdom 
of  God.  As  such  it  must  reproduce  in  its  own 
measure  the  outlines  of  the  kingdom.  The  motion 
and  the  forces  which  produced  the  solar  system 
operated  in  a  uniform  manner.  The  heavenly  bodies 
all  became  spheres.  The  planets  are  smaller  than 
the  sun,  but  like  the  sun,  their  source  and  center, 
they  are  spheres.  The  church  may  be  described  as 
the  institutional  embodiment  of  the  principles  and 
ideals  of  the  kingdom  for  practical  purposes.     The 


DENOMINATIONALISM   IN  TERMS  OF   KINGDOM     T^J 


church  is  a  divine  contrivance  for  reahzing  the  ends 
of  the  kingdom  of  God.  It  becomes  evident  thus 
that  we  may  not  estimate  the  church  apart  from  the 
kingdom.  We  can  only  find  the  criteria  for  judging 
the  church  by  carefully  analyzing  the  essential  prin- 
ciples revealed  in  Scripture  as  constitutive  of  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

A  False  Assumption. 

It  is  often  assumed  in  discussions  of  the  church 
that  these  relations  to  the  kingdom  are  non-existent, 
as  if  church  organization  and  polity  were  purely 
matters  of  expediency  or  of  historical  development. 
On  the  contrary,  as  the  church  is  the  institutional 
embodiment  of  the  principles  of  the  kingdom  of  God, 
and  the  only  adequate  embodiment,  it  is  altogether 
possible  that  a  question  of  polity  may  under  certain 
conditions  involve  the  very  life  of  Christianity  itself. 
If  any  one  doubts  the  vital  bearing  of  the  institu- 
tional side  of  Christianity  upon  human  welfare  and 
ordered  progress  let  him  turn  his  eyes  to  those 
countries  where  Roman  Catholicism  has  sway,  and 
let  him  observe  the  stagnation  and  blight  which  have 
fallen  upon  those  peoples.  There  are  ecclesiastical 
polities  which  quench  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  A 
living  faith  is  at  once  suffocated  when  it  seeks  free- 
dom for  expansion  under  them.  It  will  always  be 
found,  moreover,  that  this  repressive  tendency  of 
the  polity  is  in  direct  ratio  to  its  divergence  from  the 
principles  and  ideals  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 


38  the  axioms  of  religion 

Spiritual  Laws  of  the  Kingdom. 

Keeping  in  mind,  now,  the  foregoing  outline  of 
the  fundamental  principles  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  its  relations  to  the  church,  we  may  gather  up  the 
New  Testament  teachings  as  to  the  kingdom  in  the 
form  of  a  series  of  spiritual  laws  which  must  be 
respected  in  any  and  every  ecclesiastical  polity  which 
can  in  any  sense  lay  claim  to  biblical  warrant.  These 
laws,  it  will  be  observed,  are  inherent  in  the  very  es- 
sence and  idea  of  the  kingdom.  They  constitute 
the  colors  and  reveal  the  curve  of  the  rainbow  of  the 
divine  kingdom. 

The  first  is  the  law  of  Salvation :  Faith  in  Christ 
the  Son  of  God.  This  excludes  meritorious  works, 
the  acceptance  of  a  formal  creed,  or  entrance  merely 
into  a  visible  church  organization,  or  grace  through 
humanly  administered  sacraments,  as  conditions  of 
salvation.  Any  one  of  these  substitutes  for  faith 
would  destroy  the  religion  as  personal  and  bring  it 
into  the  class  of  positive  religions.  Moreover  either 
would  dim  if  not  destroy  the  sense  of  sonship  and  of 
Fatherhood,  which  would  empty  Christianity  of  its 
essential  contents.  The  church  which  obscures  this 
law  is  out  of  harmony  with  the  kingdom. 

The  second  is  the  law  of  Worship:  Freedom  of 
intercourse  between  the  Father  in  heaven  and  the 
child.  This  excludes  of  course  the  limiting  of  ac- 
ceptable worship  to  particular  places,  or  through 
human  mediators,  or  by  m.eans  of  physical  appli- 


DENOMINATIONALISM  IN  TERMS  OF   KINGDOM     39 

ances.  One  of  the  most  striking  things  in  the  teach- 
ings of  Jesus  was  the  absence  of  dependence  upon 
such  things.  His  reHgion  is  the  foe  to  the  idea  of 
the  holy  place,  the  holy  person,  and  the  holy  thing, 
in  any  such  sense  as  would  give  these  peculiar 
sacredness  or  as  possessing  an  inherent  sanctity  or 
efficacy  in  communicating  grace.  "  The  hour  com- 
eth  and  now  is  when  the  true  worshippers  shall 
worship  the  Father  in  spirit  and  truth." 

The  third  is  the  law  of  Filial  Service.  This  is  of 
course  the  idea  which  answers  to  that  of  the  Father- 
hood of  God.  The  church  is  the  filial  society.  Its 
form  of  government,  its  ordinances,  its  rules  and 
regulations,  must  be  molded  on  this  principle. 
Whenever  a  church  interposes  between  the  child 
and  the  Father,  through  sacrament,  through  human 
priesthood  or  hierarchy,  through  centralized  gov- 
ernment, through  authoritative  oligarchies  of  any 
kind  in  spiritual  afifairs,  it  ceases  to  conform  to  the 
kingdom  of  God,  and  becomes  a  juvenile  court  or 
orphanage  instead.  Christ  founded  an  institution 
to  bear  the  name  of  church  with  no  such  marks. 

The  fourth  is  the  law  of  Liberty.  As  the  kingdom 
comes  always  in  the  first  instance  to  the  individual 
and  can  only  so  come ;  as  fatherhood  and  sonship 
are  relations  expressive  of  individual  and  not  of 
corporate  experiences ;  and  as  there  is  in  every  re- 
generated life  an  element  of  privacy ;  as  personality 
indeed  is  in  every  case  an  inner  circle  where  outside 
feet  may  not  enter,  so  the  life  of  the  kingdom  must 


40  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

forever  be  a  life  of  free  service  "  under  the  eye  and 
in  the  strength  of  God."  This  autonomy  of  the 
beHever's  Hfe  is  inherent  in  the  very  idea  of  grace, 
which  means  that  God  comes  into  the  soul  to  raise 
it  into  a  state  of  moral  power,  and  transform  it  into 
his  own  image.  To  deny  the  liberty  and  autonomy 
of  the  soul  under  God  is  to  impugn  grace  itself. 

The  fifth  is  the  law  of  Interdependence  and  Broth- 
erhood. The  free  soul  is  not  an  isolated  soul.  Other 
free  souls  enter  in  manifold  ways  into  its  life.  But 
these  all  are  regulated  and  ruled  by  the  same  grace 
of  God  the  Father  in  Christ  by  which  these  asso- 
ciated souls  may  influence  each  other.  The  com- 
mon Lordship  of  Christ  over  all  and  the  sufficiency 
of  grace  toward  all  are  the  two  facts  which  forever 
exclude  lordship  of  the  one  over  the  other.  Their 
relations  to  each  other  are  those  of  brothers,  and 
not  of  masters  and  servants.  Every  ecclesiastical 
polity  must  recognize  this  fact.^ 

The  sixth  is  the  law  of  Edification.  This  re- 
quires that  Christian  growth  and  nurture  be  con- 
ducted on  lines  consonant  with  the  essential  princi- 
ples of  the  kingdom.  As  the  word  is  the  instrument 
of  the  Spirit  in  the  regenerating  act  wherein  faith 
is  the  human  response  to  God,  so  also  in  the  sancti- 
fying process.  Truth  apprehended  and  obeyed  is 
the  way  of  God's  kingdom  in  making  men  holy. 
"  Sanctify  them  through  thy  truth,  thy  word  is 
truth,"  was  the  prayer  of  Jesus.    To  make  of  ordi- 

'i   Cor.   12  :   12-31;  2  Cor.   11  :   7-1 1;  Eph.  4  :   16. 


DENOMINATIONALISM  IN  TERMS  OF  KINGDOM    4I 

nances  sacraments  possessing  spiritual  efficacy  in 
themselves  is  to  change  the  nature  of  faith  and  to 
degrade  the  entire  process  of  sanctification.  The 
opus  operatum  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in- 
volves a  theory  of  the  ordinances  which  is  sub- 
versive of  the  spirituality  of  the  kingdom.  Ordi- 
nances as  symbols  of  truth  assist  faith  and  explicate 
the  ideals  of  the  kingdom.  Ordinances  as  sacra- 
ments obscure  both.  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper 
as  symbols  of  truth  with  the  explicit  sanction  of 
Christ  for  perpetual  observance,  taking  their  places 
in  the  kingdom  of  truth  along  with  other  things  and 
operating  upon  intelligence  and  faith  after  the 
manner  of  the  word,  are  one  thing ;  but  transformed 
into  channels  of  grace  limiting  and  restricting  God's 
love  in  any  degree  to  the  human  mediators  who  ad- 
minister them,  they  are  a  reversion  to  a  lower  type 
of  religion.  The  ordinances  are  vocal  with  truth,  not 
magical  with  occult  power. 

The  seventh  is  the  law  of  Holiness.  This  implies 
that  all  the  means  adopted  in  the  church  must  be 
adjusted  to  the  ends  of  personal  and  social  right- 
eousness. Nothing  is  more  terrible  in  Christ's 
teachings  than  his  arraignment  of  merely  ceremonial 
righteousness  and  empty  orthodoxy. 

Church  Order  Not  Subject  to  Ordinary  Laws 
OF  Expediency. 

All  these  principles  will  receive  further  state- 
ment under  other  forms  in  later  chapters.    They  are 


42  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

set  forth  as  the  ground  work  for  what  shall  follow. 
The  chief  point  at  present  is  to  show  that  ecclesiasti- 
cal organization  and  life  are  not  to  be  conceived  as 
subject  merely  to  ordinary  laws  of  expediency.  Nor 
are  they  to  be  regarded  solely  as  so  many  attempted 
interpretations  of  a  particular  set  of  proof  texts 
in  the  New  Testament.  They  are  rather  under  the 
sway  of  a  group  of  universal  and  fundamental 
principles  which  inhere  in  the  very  essence  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  itself.  J.  H.  Newman  in  his  work 
"  Development  of  Christian  Doctrine "  sought  to 
show  that  the  Roman  Catholic  is  the  only  existing 
modern  representative  of  the  New  Testament 
church.  He  seeks  to  establish  this  by  his  theory 
of  ecclesiastical  development  from  New  Testa- 
ment Christianity  with  its  seven  tests,  viz :  "  preser- 
vation of  the  idea,"  "  continuity  of  principles," 
"  power  of  assimilation,"  "  early  anticipation," 
"  logical  sequence,"  "  preservative  additions,"  and 
"  chronic  sequence."  ^ 

I  have  no  intention  of  discussing  this  theory 
at  length  but  simply  ask  the  reader's  careful  at- 
tention to  the  preceding  exposition  of  the  essential 
nature  of  the  kingdom  and  the  laws  thereof  as 
criteria  for  estimating  the  claims  of  any  church.  It 
will  then  be  perfectly  apparent  that  Newman's  ap- 
plication of  his  own  theory  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  breaks  down  at  many  points.  Romanism 
certainly    fails    to    preserve    the    New    Testament 

>  Pp.  62-64. 


DENOMINATIONALISM  IN  TERMS  OF  KINGDOM    43 


"  idea  "  in  the  law  of  Salvation  and  of  Edification 
as  well  as  in  other  respects.  It  can  in  no  just 
meaning  of  the  words  be  said  to  exhibit  a  "  con- 
tinuity of  principles "  from  the  New  Testament 
times.  It  is  indeed  at  most  points  a  system  totally 
at  variance  with  the  New  Testament  ideals  of 
religion. 

In  closing  this  chapter  we  recur  once  more  to  our 
figure  of  the  rainbow,  by  way  of  gathering  up  our 
conclusions.  The  kingdom  of  God  is  the  rainbow 
of  human  hope  formed  by  the  sunlight  of  divine 
revelation  in  Jesus  Christ.  Its  colors  represent  the 
primary  elements  of  truth  which  that  revelation 
brings.  Church  organizations  have  it  in  their 
power  to  reproduce  or  obscure  those  colors.  Sacra- 
mentalism  dims  the  great  truth  of  God's  direct 
dealing  with  the  soul  of  man.  Episcopacies  and 
hierarchies  obscure  the  truth  that  all  souls  are  free 
and  individually  responsible  to  God.  In  succeeding 
chapters  we  shall  seek  to  make  these  statements 
good  and  to  elaborate  many  other  aspects  of  our 
subject. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  HISTORICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  BAPTISTS 

Baptists  have  a  noble  history.  It  is  fitting  to  ask 
the  question:  What  is  their  historical  significance? 
What  is  their  distinctive  contribution  to  the  re- 
ligious hfe  and  thought  of  mankind?  In  this  chap- 
ter an  answer  is  given  to  these  questions  somewhat 
different  in  form  from  that  ordinarily  heard.  It  is 
different,  however,  not  in  the  sense  that  it  is  con- 
tradictory to  answers  previously  given,  but  rather 
that  it  seeks  to  sum  them  up  in  a  single  principle. 

Baptists  certainly  have  a  consistent  record.  In 
their  advocacy  of  soul  freedom  in  its  completest 
measure,  and  of  the  principle  of  the  separation  of 
Church  and  State,  in  their  insistence  upon  believer's 
baptism  and  a  regenerate  church-membership,  there 
is  not  a  fleck  or  stain  upon  the  fair  page  of  their 
history. 

Baptists  in  Rhode  Island  and  Virginia. 

As  to  the  doctrine  of  soul  liberty  and  separation 
of  Church  and  State  they  have  so  far  outstripped 
all  other  religious  bodies  in  modern  times  that  with- 
out doubt  the  impartial  historian  in  the  future  as  in 
the  past  will  accord  to  them  the  palm  of  leadership. 
In  their  first  Confessions  of  Faith  in  England  in 
44 


HISTORICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  BAPTISTS      45 


the  seventeenth  century  this  principle  was  clearly 
and  distinctly  avowed.  In  Rhode  Island  under  Roger 
Williams  they  planted  the  seed  in  American  soil 
long  before  the  other  colonies  were  prepared  for  it. 
In  Virginia  there  occurred  about  a  hundred  years 
after  the  founding  of  Rhode  Island  the  most  typical 
and  interesting  struggle  for  religious  liberty  which 
the  world  has  ever  seen.  The  interest  of  this  Vir- 
ginia struggle  warrants  our  dwelling  upon  it  a  mo- 
ment here. 

I  have  said  it  was  typical.  That  is,  the  successive 
stages  of  the  conflict  appear.  The  ground  was  won 
inch  by  inch.  Imprisonment  and  persecution  in 
other  forms  had  but  one  effect  upon  the  zeal  of  the 
fathers;  it  fanned  it  into  an  intenser  flame.  In 
Rhode  Island  there  are  but  two  stages,  the  banish- 
ment of  Roger  Williams  from  Massachusetts,  and 
at  length  the  new  charter  and  the  beginning  of  the 
new  era  in  the  world's  spiritual  career.  In  Virginia 
on  the  contrary  the  darkness  was  driven  back  more 
gradually.  There  was  the  contest  over  the  question 
of  freedom  of  worship,  over  the  general  assessment, 
and  the  glebes.  At  length  after  many  hardships 
and  struggles  Virginia  Baptists  conquered  and  the 
established  church  was  overthrown. 

Virginia  Baptists  were  alone  in  this  struggle  so 
far  as  other  religious  bodies  were  concerned.  There 
were  indeed  great  statesmen  who  championed  their 
cause  who  were  not  Baptists.  Madison  and  Jeffer- 
son and  George  Washington  were  enlightened  men 


46  THE   AXIOMS    OF   RELIGION 

on  this  great  theme  as  on  others,  men  with  new 
"  spiritual  empires  "  in  their  brains.  But  without  the 
ceaseless  agitation,  the  continuous  stream  of  petitions 
and  protests,  which  poured  into  the  halls  of  legisla- 
tion from  the  Baptists,  no  statesman  could  have 
stemmed  the  tide  in  favor  of  perpetuating  religious 
privilege  through  an  established  church.  In  those 
days  our  Methodist  brethren  were  not  yet  free  from 
alliance  with  the  established  church  and  hence  could 
not  enter  the  lists  in  the  cause  of  complete  separation 
of  Church  and  State,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  were 
not  found  there.  The  Presbyterians  at  certain  stages 
of  the  conflict  rendered  fine  service  and  made  some 
notable  deliverances,  but  their  record  is  an  incon- 
sistent one.  At  times  also  they  were  on  the  side  of 
legalized  ecclesiastical  privilege.  The  Episcopal 
Church,  of  course,  held  the  reins  of  power  and 
tightened  its  grip  as  danger  of  disestablishment 
loomed  on  the  horizon.  They  were  in  those  days 
particularly  hostile  to  the  Baptists.  Happily  we 
have  fallen  upon  better  times  and  there  is  a  growth 
of  the  spirit  of  brotherhood  and  co-operation  among 
the  various  religious  bodies.  But  Baptists  would  be 
untrue  to  themselves  and  to  the  cause  of  truth  if 
they  failed  to  recount  for  the  generations  of  the 
present  and  the  future  the  brilliant  achievements  of 
their  Rhode  Island  and  "V^irginia  fathers,  achieve- 
ments which,  as  the  world  now  admits,  had  enfolded 
within  them  the  most  precious  spiritual  hopes  and 
treasures  of  all  mankind. 


HISTORICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  BAPTISTS      47 


Soul  Freedom  Always  Held  by  the  Baptists. 

There  is  no  evidence  that  Baptists  came  to  their 
view  of  soul  freedom  and  separation  of  Church  and 
State  gradually.  There  is  nowhere  a  wavering  note 
on  this  great  theme.  It  seems  to  have  been  a  di- 
vinely given  prophetic  insight  into  the  meaning  of 
the  gospel  and  the  implicit  teaching  of  Scripture. 
Mark  the  phrase,  implicit  teaching.  For  Scripture 
nowhere  enjoins  in  so  many  words  separation  of 
Church  and  State.  It  required  spiritual  discernment 
to  discover  the  doctrine,  prophetic  insight  of  a  high 
order,  and  yet  when  once  discovered  by  the  unbiased 
mind  it  was  accepted  as  a  self-evident  truth. 

We  need  only  to  consider  the  historic  background 
in  order  to  estimate  at  its  true  value  this  great  in- 
sight. After  Constantine  until  Pope  Gregory  VII 
there  had  been  a  struggle  for  supremacy  between 
Church  and  State.  In  Gregory  the  spirit  of  the 
Roman  Church  became  incarnate  and  conquered.  He 
made  the  Emperor  Henry  do  penance  by  standing 
in  the  snow  with  bare  feet  at  Canossa,  and  he  worte 
his  memorable  letter  to  William  the  Conqueror  to 
the  effect  that  the  State  was  subordinate  to  the 
Church,  that  the  power  of  the  State  as  compared 
with  that  of  the  Church  was  as  the  moon  compared 
with  the  sun.  For  many  generations  the  figure  of 
Gregory  filled  the  imagination  of  Europe,  and  even 
to-day  he  is  a  potent  force  there.  Neither  Luther 
nor  Calvin  hesitated  to  resort  to  the  arm  of  civil 


48  THE    AXIOMS    OF    RELIGION 

power  when  they  deemed  it  necessary  to  enforce 
religion.  The  great  Reformers  did  not  rise  to  the 
conception  of  separation  of  Church  and  State.  In 
those  days  it  was  left  to  the  persecuted  Anabaptists 
to  make  this  prophetic  deliverance.  But  they  were 
hounded  to  death,  and  in  Europe  seemed  almost  to 
disappear  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 

In  England  even  to-day  our  Baptist  and  Non- 
conformist brethren  are  battling  for  religious  equal- 
ity ;  and  so  recent  and  able  a  statesman  as  Gladstone 
wrote  a  book  to  prove  that  the  propagation  of 
religion  is  a  function  of  the  State. 

Religious  Toleration  Not  Liberty. 

In  the  American  colonies  apart  from  Rhode  Island 
and  Virginia,  where  Baptists  led  the  way,  the  near- 
est approach  to  the  true  ideal  was  one  form  or 
another  of  religious  toleration.  The  story  is  a 
familiar  one  and  need  not  be  recited  again  here. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  in  no  American  colony  save  in 
the  two  mentioned  was  there  even  an  effort  made  to 
establish  religious  liberty  in  the  true  sense.  In  the 
founding  of  Maryland  the  Calverts  secured  a  charter 
from  England  which  granted  a  certain  measure  of 
toleration.  This,  to  these  Roman  Catholics,  seemed 
indeed  a  great  stride  forward.  In  comparison  with 
their  usual  insistence  upon  an  ironclad  church  au- 
thority and  their  exclusive  claim  to  apostolicity, 
it  was  a  real  step  in  advance.  But  the  Baptists 
stood    for    a    more    thoroughgoing    principle    than 


HISTORICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  BAPTISTS      49 

Romanist  or  Protestant  in  their  doctrine  of  com- 
plete separation  of  Church  and  State.  Everything 
is  relative.  A  snail  complained  of  a  tortoise :  "  You 
travel  too  fast  for  me !  "  A  clod  near-by  said  to 
the  snail :  "  You  go  so  fast  you  make  me  dizzy !  " 
While  this  colloquy  was  going  on  an  eagle  swept 
past  overhead;  but  his  proximity  and  flight  never 
dawned  upon  clod,  tortoise,  or  snail.  Toleration  and 
religious  liberty  are  the  poles  apart. 

Common  as  was  religious  oppression  in  those 
days  even  the  Declaration  of  Independence  fails  to 
mention  it  as  a  thing  to  be  cast  off  along  with  other 
forms  of  tyranny  therein  enumerated.  It  was  as 
Madison,  Adams,  and  others  said,  the  conception  of 
a  free  Church  in  a  free  State  was  foreign  to  the 
general  philosophy  and  social  theories  of  the  age. 
Men  imagined  that  to  adopt  the  principle  would  be 
to  open  the  flood-gates  to  infidelity  in  a  thousand 
forms.  It  was  not  until  after  the  promulgation  of 
the  federal  constitution  that  Congress  was  awakened 
to  the  danger  of  perpetuating  the  un-American 
theory  of  the  union  of  Church  and  State.  The 
Baptists  of  Virginia  again  took  the  lead.  They  sent 
their  well-known  memorial  to  George  Washington, 
then  president  of  the  United  States,  and  from  him 
received  assurance  that  the  liberties  of  the  people  in 
religious  matters  would  be  protected.  Soon  after- 
ward the  first  amendment  to  the  Constitution  was 
enacted,  forever  forbidding  religious  tests  or  special 
privileges  in  the  United  States. 


50  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 


The  Historical  Significance  of  the  Baptists. 

But  it  is  time  we  take  up  the  answer  to  the  ques- 
tion What  is  the  historic  significance  of  the  Baptists? 
What  great  principle  have  they  contributed  to  the 
rehgious  thought  and  hfe  of  mankind?  Or  to  state 
the  question  in  a  slightly  different  form,  What  inter- 
pretation of  Christianity  do  they  represent,  which 
distinguishes  them  from  all  other  Christian  bodies? 

In  replying  to  these  questions  we  shall  find  that 
there  are  a  number  of  great  elementary  truths,  of  the 
nature  of  axioms,  which  lie  at  the  heart  of  the  Baptist 
conception  of  Christianity.  It  is  the  aim  of  this 
book  to  show  that  these  universal  and  self-evident 
truths  are  simply  the  expression  of  the  universal 
elements  in  Christianity  and  thus  serve  as  the  best 
statement  of  what  the  religion  of  Christ  is  in  its 
essential  nature. 

What  then  is  the  distinguishing  Baptist  principle? 
Is  it  separation  of  Church  and  State?  Or  is  it 
the  doctrine  of  soul  freedom,  the  right  of  private 
judgment  in  religious  matters  and  in  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Scriptures?  Assuredly  these  are  dis- 
tinctive Baptist  principles,  which  have  been  held  by 
no  religious  denomination  so  consistently.  And  yet 
they  are  scarcely  an  adequate  statement  by  them- 
selves. Separation  of  Church  and  State  may  be  an 
accomplished  fact  and  yet  Roman  Catholicism  re- 
main as  the  form  of  Christianity  which  survives. 
This    of    course    means    the    survival    of    spiritual 


HISTORICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  BAPTISTS      5  I 


tyranny  in  the  church,  although  the  church  itself 
be  untrammeled  by  the  civil  power.  Soul  freedom 
too  is  but  a  partial  statement.  Freedom  alone  is  not 
the  end  but  the  means.  Self-realization  through 
Christ  is  the  end.  Until  freedom  is  thus  directed 
toward  its  end  it  remains  negative  in  meaning,  it 
simply  points  to  the  broken  fetters,  from  which  it 
has  escaped.  Freedom  by  itself  does  not  imply 
capacity  for  self-government,  and  any  adequate 
statement  of  the  New  Testament  teaching  must 
include  this. 

Again,  can  we  claim  that  individualism  is  the  pe- 
culiar teaching  of  the  Baptists?  Here  again  we 
touch  upon  a  great  truth  which  Baptists  have  in- 
sisted upon  in  a  manner  more  thoroughgoing  than 
any  others.  But  individualism  alone  is  inadequate 
because  man  is  more  than  an  individual.  He  is  a 
social  being.  He  has  relations  to  his  fellows  in  the 
Church,  and  in  the  industrial  order,  and  in  the 
State.  We  must  comprehend  these  relations  in 
our  fundamental  view. 

Justification  by  faith  was  a  central  principle  in 
Luther's  teaching,  and  has  become  a  part  of  the 
common  Christian  heritage  of  the  succeeding  cen- 
turies. Baptists  here  share  with  others  the  posses- 
sion of  a  great  truth.  This  cannot  therefore  be 
regarded  as  a  doctrine  peculiar  to  the  Baptists. 

Obedience  to  Christ's  will  as  revealed  in  the 
Scriptures  has  been  urged  as  the  all-inclusive  Bap- 
tist principle.     Dr.   W.   C.   Wilkinson's   admirable 


52  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

work  on  "  The  Baptist  Principle "  sets  forth  this 
conception  in  its  fidness.  There  is  a  great  truth 
here.  Baptists  rightly  insist  on  obedience  at  all 
points.  There  are  portions  of  Scripture  which 
others  have  ignored  or  set  aside.  And  yet  it  may 
be  questioned  whether  the  principle  of  obedience  is 
quite  sufficiently  comprehensive  to  cover  the  case 
fully.  Historically,  at  least,  there  are  aspects  of  the 
Baptist  position  which  come  into  view  more  clearly 
under  another  conception  as  we  shall  see.  As  a 
force  in  history  they  have  borne  a  distinguishing 
mark  which  will  become  evident  enough  when  duly 
considered.  All  evangelical  denominations  claim 
to  obey,  and  in  theory  adopt  the  principle  of  obedi- 
ence, however  much  they  may  depart  from  it  as 
regards  infant  baptism  and  immersion  as  the  sole 
New  Testament  baptism.  The  Roman  Catholics, 
however,  deny  entirely  the  believer's  right  or 
capacity  to  interpret  and  obey  the  Scriptures  for 
himself.  He  maintains  that  the  principle  of  in- 
dividual initiative  here  leads  to  ecclesiastical  anar- 
chy. Another  aspect  of  obedience  is  that  it  may  be 
stated  in  a  form  which  ignores  the  necessity  for  in- 
telligence. Obedience  may  be  blind,  or  fanatical, 
and  thus  far  from  the  New  Testament  ideal.  The 
idea  of  obedience,  therefore,  would  seem  to  require 
some  qualification  in  order  to  answer  all  the  ends 
of  a  comprehensive  definition. 

What  shall  be  said  of  regeneration?     Is  the  doc- 
trine of  regenerated  church-membership  the  suffi- 


HISTORICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  BAPTISTS       53 

cient  statement  of  the  Baptist  view?  It  is  a  view 
peculiar  to  Baptists,  and  far-reaching  in  its  signifi- 
cance. And  yet  it  is  conceivable  that  the  doctrine 
of  a  regenerated  church-membership  might  co-exist 
alongside  of  a  priestly  or  an  episcopal  system  of 
church  government.  The  fundamental  statement 
should  be  at  the  same  time  duly  inclusive  and  ex- 
clusive, and  regeneration  alone  comes  short. 

Democracy  and  the  priesthood  of  all  believers, 
again,  have  been  urged  as  the  fundamental  Baptist 
view.  Unquestionably  they  are  of  vital  importance 
and  grow  directly  out  of  our  fundamental  position. 
But  they  are  corollaries  to  a  prior  truth.  They  are 
not  original  but  derived. 

The  sufficient  statement  of  the  historical  signifi- 
cance  of  the  Baptists  is  this:  The^eQmEgtgng^::^;!^ 
the  soul  in  religion.  Of  course  this  means  a  com- 
petenc}^_under  God,  not  a  c.omnPtpnrY.Jn  the  sense 
oriiuman~~seIF'sufficiency.  There  is  no  reference 
here  to  the  question  of  sin  and  human  ability  in  the 
moral  and  theological  sense,  nor  in  the  sense  of 
independence  of  the  Scriptures.  I  am  not  here 
stating  the  Baptist  creed.  On  many  vital  matters  of 
doctrine,  such  as  the  atonement,  the  person  of  Christ, 
and  others  Baptists  are  in  substantial  agreement 
with  the  evangelical  world  in  general.  It  is  the  his- 
torical significance  of  the  Baptists  I  am  stating,  not  a 
Baptist  creed. 

This  conception  of  the  competency  of  the  soul  un- 
der God  in  religion  is  both  exclusive  and  inclusive 


54  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

in  a  measure  which  sets  forth  the  distinctive  contri- 
bution of  Baptists  to  the  religious  thought  of  the 
race.  It  is  of  course  a  New  Testament  principle 
and  carries  at  its  heart  the  very  essence  of  that  con- 
ception of  man's  relations  to  God  which  we  find  in 
the  teaching  of  Christ. 

Observe  then  that  the  idea  of  the  competency  of 
the  soul  in  religion  excludes  at  once  all  human  in- 
terference, such  as  episcopacy  and  infant  baptism, 
and  every  form  of  religion  by  proxy.  Religion  is  a 
personal  matter  between  the  soul  and  God.  The 
principle  is  at  the  same  time  inclusive  of  all  the 
particulars  which  were  named  above  and  more.  It 
must  include  the  doctrine  of  separation  of  Church 
and  State  because  State  churches  stand  on  the  as- 
sumption that  civil  government  is  necessary  as  a 
factor  in  man's  life  in  order  to  a  fulfilment  of  his 
religious  destiny;  that  man  without  the  aid  of  the 
State  is  incompetent  in  religion.  Justification  by 
faith  is  also  included  because  this  doctrine  is  simply 
one  detail  in  the  soul's  general  religious  heritage 
from  Christ.  Justification  asserts  man's  competency 
to  deal  directly  with  God  in  the  initial  act  of  the 
Christian  life.  Regeneration  is  also  implied  in  the 
principle  of  the  soul's  competency  because  it  is  the 
blessing  which  follows  close  upon  the  heels  of  justifi- 
cation or  occurs  at  the  same  time  with  it,  as  a  result 
of  the  soul's  direct  dealing  with  God.  The  necessity 
for  a  regenerated  church-membership  follows  of 
necessity  from  the  doctrine  of  the  regenerated  in- 


HISTORICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  BAPTISTS      55 

dividual  life.  The  doctrine  of  tlip  snnl'.s  rnmpetfncv. 
however,  goes  further  than  int^jvidnalism  in  that.it 
embraces^ca^acity  for  action  m_social  relations  as 
well  as  on  thejgart_flf.  the  individual.  The  church 
is  a  group  of  individuals  sustaining  to  each  other 
important  relations,  and  organized  for  a  great  end 
and  mission.     Th£-idea   of  the  soul's  coittpeteacy 

pmhrPf^'^'^  thp  gnrial  -a.9  meU   tc  thp  individnal  a<;pfrt 

oixfiligion. 

Let  it  be  noted  further  that  the  steps  we  have  al- 
ready traced  lead  directly  to  democracy  in  church 
Hfe  and  the  _priesthood  of- all  believers.  The  com- 
petency of  the  regenerated  individual  implies  that  at 
bottom  his  competency  is  derived  from  the  indwell- 
ing Christ.  Man's  capacity  for  self-government  in 
religion  is  nothing  more  than  the  authority  of  Christ 
exerted  in  and  through  the  inner  life  of  believers, 
with  the  understanding  always,  of  course,  that  he 
regulates  that  inner  life  in  accordance  with  his 
revealed  word.  There  is  no  conceivable  justifica- 
tion, therefore,  for  lodging  ecclesiastical  authority 
in  the  hands  of  an  infallible  pope  or  a  bench  of 
bishops.  Democracy  in  church  government  is  an 
inevitable  corollary  of  the  general  doctrine  of  the 
soul's  competency  in  religion.  The  independence 
and  autonomy  of  the  local  church,  therefore,  is 
not  merely  an  inference  from  a  verse  of  Scripture 
here  and  there.  It  inheres  in  the  whole  philosophy 
of  Christianity.  Democracy  in  church  government 
is  simply  Christ  himself  animating  his  own  body 


56  THE  AXIOMS  OF  RELIGION 

through  his  Spirit.  The  decisions  of  the  local  con- 
gregation on  ecclesiastical  matters  are  the  "  con- 
sensus of  the  competent." 

The  priesthood  of  all  believers,  again,  is  but  the 
expression  of  the  soul's  competency  on  the  Godward, 
as  democracy  is  its  expression  on  the  ecclesiastical 
side  of  its  religious  life.  Nojiuman  priest  may  claim 
to  be  mediator  between  the^soul  anfLGod  because  no 
possible  reason  can  be  assigned  for  any^  competency 
qnjiis  part  not  common  to  all  believers. 

The  principle  of  obedience  also  takes  its  place 
as  a  very  important  particular  under  the  general 
conception  of  the  soul's  competency.  The  principle 
of  competency  itself  meets  the  Roman  Catholic  plea 
against  direct  individual  obedience  to  the  Scriptures 
on  the  ground  of  the  man's  incapacity  to  interpret 
Scripture  for  himself.  The  right  of  private  judg- 
ment as  to  the  meaning  of  the  Bible  is  of  course 
another  aspect  of  the  same  great  truth. 

General  Summary. 

The  reader  will  observe  that  what  we  are  main- 
taining is  that  the  doctrine  of  the  soul's  competency 
in  religion  under  God  is  the  historical  significance 
of  the  Baptists.    We  may  restate  the  Baptist  position 
in  the   various   relations   as   follows:    The   biblical 
f   significance  of  the  Baptists  is  the  right  of  private 
j  interpretation  and  obedience  to  the  Scriptures.    The 
/  significance  of  the  Baptists  in   relation  to  the  in- 
I  dividual  is  soul  freedom.    The  ecclesiastical  signifi- 


HISTORICAL  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE  BAPTISTS      57 

cance  of  the  Baptists  is  a  regenerated  church-mem- _ 
bership  and  The  equality  and  priesthood  of  behevers. 
The  political  significance  of  the  Baptists  is  the  sep- 
aration of  Church  and  State.  But  as  comprehending 
all  the  above  particulars,  as  a  great  and  aggressive 
force  in  Christian  history,  as  distinguished  from  all 
others  and  standing  entirely  alone,  the  doctrine 
of  the  soul's  competency  in  religion  under  God  is  the 
distinctive  historical  significance  of  the  Baptists. 

It  tlius  appears  that  the  doctrine  of  the  soul's 
competency  in  religion  is  a  comprehensive  truth. 
It  unites  and  concentrates  in  itself  indeed  three  great 
streams  of  tendency  in  modern  times.  The  first  is 
the  intellectual  principle  of  the  Renaissance,  man's 
capacity  and  right  in  the  exercise  of  mental  free- 
dom. The  second  is  the  Anglo-Saxon  principle 
of  individualism  which  has  been  so  potent  a  political 
force  in  modern  times.  The  third  is  the  Reforma- 
tion principle,  justification  by  faith.  Baptists,  how- 
ever, have  changed  all  these  tendencies  and  modified 
them  by  elevating  them  into  nobler  forms  and  made 
them  more  fruitful.  In  their  insistence  upon  man's 
competency  in  religion  they  have  saved  intellectual 
freedom  from  all  forms  of  human  repression  and 
at  the  same  time  safeguarded  it  by  relating  it  to 
man's  true  goal,  the  Intelligence  behind  the  visible 
universe.  Human  intellect  illumined  by  the  Divine 
intellect  is  the  Baptist  view.  In  their  advocacy  of 
individualism  they  have  saved  the  Anglo-Saxon 
principle  from  the  ruthlessly  selfish  tendency  by  de- 


58  THE   AXIOMS   OF    RELIGION 

fining  it  as  a  moral  and  religious  impulse  under  the 
direct  tutelage  of  the  moral  leader  of  mankind — 
Jesus  Christ.  Moreover,  they  have  carried  the  Ref- 
ormation principle  of  justification  by  faith  far 
beyond  the  dreams  of  Luther  and  the  other  re- 
formers. All  that  is  implicit  in  the  justification 
principle  they  have  advocated.  The  long  struggle 
for  religious  liberty  and  separation  of  Church  and 
State  which  Baptists  have  led,  has  been  the  unfold- 
ing consistently  of  a  greater  ideal  than  that  cher- 
ished by  Luther,  which  has  gathered  up  into  a 
larger  unity  all  the  moral  and  spiritual  treasures 
of  the  Reformation  itself. 

Now  this  principle  of  the  competency  of  the  soul 
under  God  in  religion,  like  all  other  radical  views 
of  man  or  nature  has  its  underlying  philosophy. 
For  the  present  we  may  indicate  that  philosophy 
by  asserting  that  the  principle  of  competency  as- 
sumes that  man  is  made  in  God's  image,  and  that 
God  is  a  person  able  to  reveal  himself  to  man,  or 
Christian  theism.  Man  has  capacity  for  God,  and 
God  can  communicate  with  man.  This  philosophy 
of  course  underlies  the  total  Christian  movement. 
The  incarnation  of  God  in  Christ  is  the  one  great 
historic  expression  of  it. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  soul's   competency   IN   RELIGION 

It  is  in  order  now  to  point  out  how  the  claim  in 
the  preceding  chapter  may  be  made  good.  If  the 
principle  of  the  competency  of  the  soul  in  religion 
under  God  is  a  distinctive  Baptist  contribution  to 
the  world's  thought,  a  vital  elernent  in  the  Baptist 
message  to  the  race,  then  it  ought  to  appear  to  be 
such  when  compared  with  the  points  of  view  of 
various  other  Christian  bodies.  Under  this  pro- 
cess of  comparison  I  think  the  candid  reader  will 
recognize  without  difficulty  that  this  is  a  distin- 
guishing mark  of  the  Baptists.  He  will  also  per- 
ceive its  simplicity,  and  indeed  universality  as  an 
underlying  assumption  in  New  Testament  Chris- 
tianity, while  at  the  same  time  he  will  discover  in  it 
a  comprehensive  criterion  of  judgment  for  classify- 
ing the  various  existing  ecclesiastical  bodies  of 
Christendom. 

Romanists  and  the  Soul's  Competency  in 
Religion. 

First,  then,  compare  the  principle  of  the  com- 
petency of  the  soul  in  religion  with  Roman  Catholi- 
cism. It  can  be  shown  historically  without  the 
slightest  difficulty  that  the  formative  principle  of 

59 


6o  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

the  Roman  Catholic  system  is  the  direct  antithesis 
to  the  doctrine  of  the  soul's  competency.  Roman- 
ism, in  other  words,  asserts  at  every  point  the  soul's 
incompetency  in  religion.  From  beginning  to  end 
Romanism  conceives  of  the  human  spirit  as  de- 
pendent in  religion  upon  other  human  spirits.  It 
regards  the  soul  as  incompetent  to  deal  alone  with 
God.  This  is  not  only  the  outward  expression  and 
practical  result  of  the  Roman  hierarchical  system ;  it 
is  also  the  avowed  theory  of  the  church,  proclaimed 
without  hesitation.  The  laity  are  dependent  upon 
the  priesthood.  Each  lower  order  in  the  hierarchy 
is  dependent  upon  the  next  above  it,  and  all  together 
are  under  the  necessity  of  drawing  instruction  for 
the  intellect  and  the  rule  for  the  moral  and  re- 
Hgious  life  from  the  infallible  head  of  the  church  in 
Rome. 

In  every  particular  of  the  ecclesiastical  and  re- 
ligious life  of  the  Roman  Catholic,  the  soul's  in- 
competency is  assumed.  All  the  seven  sacraments 
illustrate  the  statement  in  a  striking  way.  The  soul's 
capacity  to  deal  with  Christ  and  receive  revelation 
at  his  hands  is  denied  in  baptism.  For  through  bap- 
tism alone  as  administered  by  the  authorized  priest- 
hood (save  in  certain  emergencies)  can  the  re- 
generating efficacy  of  Christianity  reach  the  soul. 
Outside  the  church  is  no  salvation.  Christ  and  the 
soul  alone  are  not  equal  to  the  redemptive  task.  The 
only  competent  hands  are  human  and  priestly.  The 
same  principle  inheres  in  the  administration  of  the 


THE   soul's   competency    IN    RELIGION  6l 

Lord's  Supper.  Its  power  is  nothing  until  the  ele- 
ments are  changed  by  the  priestly  touch  into  the 
body  and  blood  of  Christ.  Communion  with  Christ 
is  thus  taken  out  of  the  realm  of  spirit  and  trans- 
ferred to  the  realm  of  matter,  and  the  material  ele- 
ments necessary  to  the  communion  are  held  in  the 
form  of  an  ecclesiastical  monopoly  by  a  human 
priesthood.  Auricular  confession  also  assumes  that 
in  prayer  man  is  incompetent  to  deal  directly  with 
God.  A  human  priest  must  pronounce  absolution. 
The  penance  also  which  the  priest  imposes  raises  a 
barrier  between  the  broken  heart  and  the  forgiving 
Father  in  heaven,  and  asserts  that  his  pardoning  love 
instead  of  rolling  in  like  a  tide  upon  the  penitent 
soul  expands  and  contracts  in  accordance  with  the 
severity  or  leniency  of  an  erring  human  mediator. 
Again,  Christ  cannot  call  a  man  into  his  ministry, 
and  no  man  can  respond  to  that  call,  outside  the  line 
of  apostolic  succession.  The  sacrament  of  orders 
limits  Christ's  ministry  to  an  ecclesiastical  chain 
which  at  no  point  must  be  broken,  and  at  once  pro- 
nounces the  decree  of  condemnation  upon  all  others, 
and  asserts  that  the  alleged  direct  call  into  the  minis- 
try from  Christ  himself  is  a  delusion. 

The  sacrament  of  extreme  unction,  which  is  ap- 
plied to  the  dying  is  another  form  of  the  Romanist 
assertion  of  the  soul's  incompetency.  God's  grace  in 
the  heart  cannot  fit  a  man  for  the  exodus  through 
death  out  of  this  life  into  the  next.  Not  until  the 
priest,  with  oil  consecrated  by  the  bishop,  has  an- 


62  THE   AXIOMS   OF    RELIGION 

ointed  the  dying  in  the  figure  of  the  cross,  on  eyes, 
ears,  nostrils,  mouth,  the  pahns  of  the  hands  and 
soles  of  the  feet,  is  the  soul  prepared  to  make  its  exit. 
The  soul  is  thus  made  competent  for  death  only 
through  priestly  mediation.  The  fetters  of  this 
bondage  to  a  mortal  and  human  priesthood  are  not 
broken  even  when  death  has  severed  spirit  from 
body ;  for  even  then  the  gates  of  purgatory  fly  open 
only  through  priestly  intercession  upon  earth. 

And  finally  the  doctrine  of  papal  infallibility  com- 
bined with  that  of  an  authoritative  tradition  forbids 
all  private  or  divergent  interpretations  of  Scripture. 
To  discover  and  proclaim  an  interpretation  of  the 
word  of  God  which  contravenes  in  any  essential  par- 
ticular that  which  bears  the  stamp  of  traditional  or 
papal  approval,  is  for  the  Catholic  to  invoke  upon  his 
head  the  anathema  of  the  church. 

Thus  from  beginning  to  end  and  throughout 
its  very  fiber  Romanism  rears  its  ecclesiastical 
structure  on  the  denial  of  the  soul's  competency  in 
religion.  There  is  not  a  leaf  on  this  vast  tree  which 
is  not  ribbed  and  modeled  in  rigid  obedience  to  its 
one  constructive  ideal,  the  soul's  incapacity  to  attend 
to  religion  for  itself.  While  not  desiring  in  the 
slightest  measure  to  abate  the  value  or  importance 
of  the  good  Roman  Catholicism  has  done  in  its  be- 
nevolent and  philanthropic  work,  one  is  compelled 
to  say  that  in  its  ecclesiastical  theory  it  is  not  only 
against  the  spirit  of  human  development  and  prog- 
ress, but  is   inconsistent   with  the   Christianity   of 


THE  soul's  competency   IN   RELIGION  63 

Christ.  ILthere  is  any  one  thirty  which  stands  out 
above  others  in  crystal  clearness  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment it  is  Christ's  doctrine  of  the  soul's  capacity, 
right,  and^priyilege  to  approach  God  directly  and 
transact  with  him  in  religion. 

Protestantism  Also  Inconsistent. 

We  look  next  at  the  Baptist  principle  of  the  com- 
petency of  the  soul  in  religion  in  its  relation  to 
Protestantism  in  general.  We  find  here,  of  course, 
important  modifications  of  the  case  as  it  stands  with 
Roman  Catholicism.  But  all  the  churches  which  ad- 
here to  infant  baptism  or  episcopacy  in  any  form 
come  short  of  the  New  Testament  principle  in  cer- 
tain important  respects.  These  bodies  in  fact  repre- 
sent a  dualistic  Christianity.  They  attempt  to  com- 
bine the  Romish  principle  of  incompetency  with  the 
antithetic  principle  of  competency.  In  insisting 
upon  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  they  rec- 
ognize the  principle  of  competency;  but  in  retain- 
ing infant  baptism  or  episcopacy  they  introduce  the 
opposite  view.  Infant  baptism  takes  away  from  the 
child  its  privilege  of  individual  initiative  in  salva- 
tion and  lodges  in  the  hands  of  parents  or  sponsors 
the  impossible  task  of  performing  an  act  of  religious 
obedience  for  another.  Such  a  view  is  as  an  axe 
laid  to  the  root  of  obedience,  and  destroys  its  essen- 
tial nature  as  such. 

It  thus  appears  that  current  Protestantism  at- 
tempts to  harmonize  two  principles  which  are  es- 


64  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

sentially  contradictory  to  each  other.  There  are  in 
Other  words  two  ways  of  being  saved,  and  two  ways 
of  entering  a  Presbyterian  or  Episcopal  church. 
One  way  is  by  personal  obedience.  The  applicant 
for  church-membership  who  has  not  been  baptized 
relates  a  Christian  experience  which  of  course  in- 
volves justification  by  faith  in  Christ.  He  is  re- 
ceived and  baptized  upon  this  profession  of  faith 
and  thus  obeys  for  himself.  Another,  who  was  bap- 
tized in  infancy,  also  applies  for  church-membership 
and  is  received  on  the  strength  of  that  baptism. 
In  the  one  case  the  candidate  obeyed  for  himself, 
in  the  other  his  sponsors  obeyed  for  him.  The  two 
principles  are  fundamentally  opposed.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising, therefore,  that  Pedobaptist  churches  have 
great  difficulty  in  explaining  the  status  of  baptized 
infants  in  the  church.  Are  they  church-members  or 
not?  New  England  Congregationalists  struggled 
over  the  question  for  a  long  time  in  colonial  days, 
and  they  have  never  attained  a  satisfactory  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  as  we  shall  see  in  a  later  chapter. 
The  same  difficulties  exist  to-day  in  all  Pedobap- 
tist denominations.  No  intelligible  view  of  the 
status  of  baptized  infants  in  the  church  can  possibly 
be  set  forth  which  does  not  contradict  the  doctrine  of 
justification  by  faith  and  personal  obedience  which 
is  also  held  by  these  same  churches.  The  reason  is 
that  in  the  one  case  the  competency  of  the  soul  in 
religion  is  affirmed — that  is,  in  justification  by  faith 
and  personal  obedience ;  and  in  the  other  that  com- 


THE  soul's   competency    IN   RELIGION  65 

petency  is  denied — that  is,  in  infant  baptism  and 
sponsorial  or  parental  obedience. 

The  New  Testament  principle  of  the  soul's  com- 
petency is  violated  also  in  all  forms  of  church 
polity  which  retain  episcopacy  and  any  other  form  of 
ecclesiastical  oligarchy.  But  as  the  principle  of  de- 
mocracy in  church  government  is  to  receive  at- 
tention in  later  chapters,  further  discussion  of  this 
point  is  omitted  here. 

In  concluding  our  remarks  on  the  relation  of  the 
Baptist  doctrine  of  the  soul's  competency  in  re- 
ligion to  Pedobaptist  ideas,  it  is  only  necessary  to 
remark  that  the  latter  adopt  at  one  point  and  con- 
tradict at  another  a  principle  which  reaches  its  ful- 
ness in  the  Baptist  polity  and  general  view  of  Chris- 
tianity. The  Baptists  have  consistently  applied  the 
principle  at  every  point.  Their  aim  is  to  restore 
original  Christianity  in  its  completeness  to  the 
human  race. 

The  Soul's  Competency  and  Modern  Progress. 

We  must  consider  next  the  relation  of  the  doctrine 
of  competency  to  modern  life  and  progress.  This 
also  will  be  discussed  in  later  portions  of  the  book. 
Meantime  a  few  words  by  way  of  general  outline. 
Properly  understood  the  doctrine  of  the  soul's  com- 
petency in  religion  is  the  summary  of  our  progres- 
sive life  and  civilization.  The  religious  principle  is 
always  the  dominant  force  which  gives  its  leading 
characteristics  to  any  civilization.    The  competency 


66  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

of  man  in  religion  is  the  competency  of  man  every- 
where. Every  significant  movement  of  our  day  is 
one  form  or  another  of  that  high  purpose  of  man 
to  make  his  way  back  to  God.  Art  is  simply  the  as- 
sertion of  man's  inherent  capacity  for  beauty,  the 
claim  that  he  is  competent  to  trace  out  in  time  all 
the  subtle  lines  of  grace,  all  the  varied  hues  and 
forms  of  a  manifold  and  wonder-crowded  universe. 
Art  is  simply  the  march  of  the  beauty  lover  along 
the  highways  of  a  variegated  creation,  forward  and 
upward  until  he  stands  face  to  face  with  Him  who 
is  the  infinitely  Beautiful. 

Science  is  the  corresponding  quest  for  truth,  the 
assertion  that  the  soul  was  made  for  truth,  its  com- 
petency to  find  and  its  capacity  for  truth,  its  death- 
less struggle  for  truth  until  it  stands  in  the  presence 
of  Him  who  is  the  Truth. 

Agnosticism  a  Belated  Philosophy. 

Philosophy  also  simply  asserts  the  competency  of 
man  in  the  realm  of  speculative  thought.  Christian 
theism  is  the  only  possible  philosophy  for  the  man 
who  accepts  our  fundamental  principle  of  the  soul's 
competency.  For  it  asserts  God's  ability  to  commu- 
nicate a  revelation  to  man  and  man's  capacity  to 
receive  it  and  to  communicate  with  God.  Agnos- 
ticism, which  denies  the  competency  of  the  human 
intellect,  is  the  Roman  Catholicism  of  philosophy, 
and  is  a  belated  view  of  human  ability  in  the  intel- 
lectual sphere.    Many  who  lean  toward  agnosticism 


THE  soul's   competency    IN    RELIGION  67 

in  their  theological  attitude  need  to  reexamine  their 
foundations  and  discover  its  real  intellectual  and 
spiritual  affinities. 

Again,  politics  and  government  and  the  social 
institutions  assume  man's  moral  competency,  his 
capacity  for  moral  progress  under  God  in  a  v^^ell- 
ordered  society.  Society  is  the  bold  assertion  that 
under  God's  leadership  eternal  right  w^ill  be  attained 
in  the  human  sphere.  If  you  let  the  gold  and  the 
pearl  stand  for  the  highest  moral  values ;  if  you  let 
the  walls  of  jasper  and  their  twelve  foundations 
stand  for  the  reign  of  moral  law ;  if  you  let  the  sun- 
less yet  resplendent  heavens  above  stand  for  the  light 
and  glory  of  truth  in  its  triumph  in  the  human  soul ; 
and  if  you  let  the  hallelujahs  of  the  tearless  and 
shadowless  and  triumphant  multitude  in  white  stand 
for  a  purified  social  order,  then  you  have  in  the 
unmatched  glory  and  beauty  of  the  New  Jerusalem 
which  the  prophet  saw  descending  from  heaven  to 
earth,  the  fitting  symbol  of  what  is  going  on  in  the 
world  all  about  us — man  under  God  achieving  for 
himself  an  ideal  social  order.  The  absence  of  the 
temple  from  the  perfected  city  means  that  all  life 
will  become  a  temple,  all  its  manifestations  an  act  of 
worship.  The  absence  of  the  sun  means  that  all 
light  and  all  truth  are  now  ours  through  the  indwell- 
ing God.  The  absence  of  labor  from  the  city  means 
that  now  achievement  is  spontaneous.  Culture, 
religion,  morality,  are  all  blended  into  a  perfect 
harmony  of  achieving  and  progressing  humanity. 


68  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 


The  Fountain  of  Discontent. 

It  is  man's  deathless  conviction  of  his  competency 
to  achieve  this  goal  that  opens  in  his  bosom  the 
fountain  of  eternal  discontent.  A  symbol  of  his 
progress  toward  his  goal  is  a  sculptor  carving  out 
of  the  marble  his  vision,  rejoicing  in  it  for  a  time, 
and  then  destroying  it  or  setting  it  aside  and  be- 
ginning his  work  on  another  block  and  making  a 
better  statue ;  forever  achieving  and  yet  forever  re- 
pudiating his  achievement  until  he  achieves  the 
image  of  God  in  himself  through  God's  grace.  All 
this  and  more  is  implicit  in  our  view  of  the  com- 
petency of  the  soul  in  religion.  America  is  the 
arena  which  God  has  supplied  for  the  free  and  full 
play  of  the  principle,  and  from  here  it  is  destined  to 
spread  until  it  covers  the  earth. 

Itjyill  bejobserved  that  man's  competency  as  thus 
outlined  is  a  competency  under  God.  In  religion  the 
cquntelparroT  1[HisjtnitlM£God^  in  Christ, 

the  divine  competency,  so  to  speak,  to  approach  man 
on  the  basis  of  his  divinely  constituted  human  na- 
ture, and  in  keeping  with  his  mental  and  moral 
faculties.  AjMhe  history  of  religion .,  shows  Ihat 
without  the  divine  initjative,  without  jcey elation, 
without  grace,  man_Iailed,ta,find„God.  His  com- 
petency, therefore,  is  not  apart  from  God's  approach 
to  him  but  only  in  and  through  that  approach.  The 
Scriptures  are  the  record  of  God's  approach  to  man 
in  Christ.    These  become  to  us  the  medium  through 


THE  soul's   competency    IN   RELIGION  69 

which  truth  finds  us,  and  without  them  Christ  would 
inevitably  pass  into  eclipse,  and  men  would  wander 
helpless,  like  a  rudderless  ship  driven  by  tide  and 
tempest.  He  would  thus  repeat  the  sad  failures  of 
the  past,  seen  in  all  the  superstitious,  and  ceremonial, 
and  speculative  attempts  to  find  God. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    AXIOMS    OF    RELIGION 

Having  examined  the  principles  of  the  kingdom 
of  God  in  their  broad  outHnes,  and  having  sought 
to  discover  the  general  significance  of  the  Baptists 
in  history,  and  having  summed  up  that  significance 
in  the  doctrine  of  the  soul's  competency  in  religion, 
we  come  next  to  examine  in  a  more  extended  way 
the_essential  elements  of  the  Bajptist_  message  to 
mankind.  Hitherto  in  our  Baptist  literature  there 
Tias  been  exhibited  a  vast  amount  of  minute  and 
careful  exegesis  of  the  New  Testament  passages 
which  support  our  claims  as  to  the  form  and  mean- 
ing of  baptism,  the  nature  and  significance  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  the  constitution  and  order  of 
the  church,  and  related  subjects.  The  exegetical 
basis  for  our  plea  has  been  wrought  with  such  suc- 
cess, indeed,  that  we  may  assert  with  the  utmost 
confidence  that  the  scholarship  of  the  world,  taken 
as  a  whole,  stands  with  us  in  our  conclusions. 

We  have  reached  a  point  in  our  history,  however, 
at  which  it  is  fitting  that  our  message  and  our  mis- 
sion be  interpreted  anew.  This  is  not  because  the 
older  plea  has  lost  its  force  or  that  it  will  cease  to 
be  necessary  in  the  future,  but  rather  because  we 
have  come  to  a  period  of  Christian  thought  in  which 
70 


THE  AXIOMS  OF  RELIGION  7I 

another  kind  of  plea  will  appeal  to  many  minds  with 
far  greater  force  than  the  old,  and  because  the  inner 
logic  of  our  Baptist  principles  demands  unfolding 
into  their  larger  implications. 

Baptists  Often  Misunderstood, 

Another  thing:  Baptists  are,  even  yet,  quite  too 
generally  misunderstood.  For  example,  one  charges : 
"  The  Baptists  invert  the  pyramid  of  Christianity  and 
try  to  make  it  stand  on  its  apex  instead  of  its  base, 
by  holding  as  their  chief  interest  the  question  of 
whether  there  is  much  or  little  water  in  baptism." 
A  Baptist  smiles  at  this  misconstruction  of  our 
views,  but  it  is  quite  prevalent.  Another  says: 
"  Baptists  evince  a  lack  of  the  sense  of  proportion 
in  their  exaggerated  emphasis  of  their  doctrine  of 
communion."  This  of  course  is  also  erroneous,  a 
misconception  of  us  and  our  real  position. 

A  recent  speaker  has  said  that  in  our  claim  that 
the  New  Testament  teaches  the  congregational 
polity  we  have  relied  in  our  exegesis  on  a  very  few 
questionable  passages;  that  we  have  taken  a  very 
small  bit  of  exegetical  dough,  so  to  speak,  and, 
with  our  controversial  roller,  we  have  flattened  it 
out  so  thin  that  it  is  scarcely  strong  enough  to  form 
the  crust  of  our  denominational  pie!  So  that  we 
are,  according  to  these  various  objectors,  deficient 
in  religious  architecture,  spiritual  art,  and  theologi- 
cal cookery.    All  of  which  are  serious  charges. 

Now  let  me  say  at  once  that  the  Baptists  have  won 


^2  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

their  contention  on  the  following  points:  Baptism 
by  immersion,  believers'  baptism,  and  congrega- 
tional polity.  The  scholarship  of  the  world  is  prac- 
tically a  unit  in  the  view  that  the  New  Testament 
teaches  just  what  the  Baptists  hold  on  these  points. 
Our  plea  falls  sometimes  on  unresponsive  ears  be- 
cause men  have  lost  interest  in  the  baptismal  and 
communion  question  in  some  communities. 

Now  it  may  be  questioned  whether  the  Baptists 
have  ever  set  forth  all  the  contents  of  their  message 
to  the  world.  At  the  bottom  of  our  Pandora's  box 
there  may  lie  neglected  greater  things  than  those 
which  have  been  taken  out.  The  pressure  of  contro- 
versy has  kept  two  or  three  things  to  the  front  to 
the  exclusion  of  greater  things. 

A  Fresh  Analysis  Needed. 

What,  then,  do  we  need?  We  need  a  transfer  of 
emphasis.  We  need  a  fresh  analysis  of  our  funda- 
mental principles.  We  need  to  reverse  the  shield  of 
our  denominational  beliefs  and  see  what  is  on  the 
other  side,  and  then  we  need  to  proclaim  what  we 
find  there  with  the  same  earnestness  and  zeal  which 
have  marked  our  conduct  in  the  past.  This  does  not 
mean  of  course  that  we  are  to  abandon  the  old 
positions,  or  cease  our  plea  for  baptism  and  church 
order,  but  only  that  we  must  enlarge  our  message 
and  make  it  complete. 

I  propose,  then,  as  a  new  defense  of  our  Baptist 
position  a  restatement  of  our  views  from  a  higher 


THE  AXIOMS  OF   RELIGION  73 

standpoint,  or  to  go  back  to  the  former  figure,  to 
look  on  the  other  side  of  our  denominational  shield. 
I  will  put  my  plea  in  the  form  of  six  brief  proposi- 
tions, and  I  will  predict  for  them  at  the  outset  three_ 
things.  First,  that  the  reader  will  concede  that 
lliey  accord  with  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Secondly,  that  they  will  be  so  simple  and 
self-evident  that  our  Methodist  and  Presbyterian 
and  Episcopalian  friends  will  all  accept  them.  In- 
deed they  are  self-evident.  They  are  the  axioms 
of  religion.  The  instructed  religious  conscious- 
ness cannot  and  will  not  repudiate  them,  however 
inconsistent  men  may  be  in  applying  them.  The 
third  thing  that  I  predict  is  that  you  will  recognize 
that  these  axioms  of  Christianity  grow  out  of  the 
mother  principle  for  which  Baptists  have  stood 
through  the  ages,  as  set  forth,  viz.,  The  competency 
of  the  soul  in  religion  under  God.  These  six  simple 
propositions  are  as  six  branches  from  that  one  trunk 
of  New  Testament  teaching.  Let  us  come,  then, 
to  the  axioms.  I  will  give  them  all  first,  and  will 
follow  the  statement  with  remarks  about  them. 

The  Axioms  of  Religion. 

1.  The  theological  axiom:  The  holy  and  loving 
God  has  a  right  to  be  sovereign. 

2.  The  religious  axiom:  All  souls  have  an  equal 
right  to  direct  access  to  God. 

3.  The  ecclesiastical  axiom :  All  beHevers  have  a 
right  to  equal  privileges  in  the  church. 


74  THE  AXIOMS  OF  RELIGION 

4.  The  moral  axiom :  To  be  responsiblemanmust 
be  free. 

^,  The  religio-civic  axiom :  A.  free  Church  in ^ 
free  State. 


6,  The  social  axiom :  Love  jour_  neighboi^a^ 
yourgJelLL, 

Now  my  claim  is  that  these  are  axioms ;  they  are 
to  those  who  accept  Christianity  at  all  self-evident. 
Indeed,  they  will  not  be  denied  so  far  as  they  are 
general  principles  by  any  evangelical  Christian  or 
intelligent  unbeliever.  They  are  the  very  alphabet 
of  the  Christian  religion.  Understand  me.  They  do 
not  exhaust  the  specific  beliefs  as  to  the  Scriptures, 
Christ,  the  church,  the  ordinances.  They  are  not  an 
exhaustive  creed.  They  are  rather  the  great  New 
Testament  assumptions,  which  are  the  very  basis 
of  our  Baptist  faith.  What  we  wish  the  world  to 
see  is  that  our  conception  of  the  church  and  of 
Christianity  rests  upon  an  impregnable  foundation. 

I  remark  further  that  no  religious  organization 
so  consistently  embodies  all  these  axiomatic  princi- 
ples in  its  life  and  doctrine  as  the  Baptists. 

In  calling  the  above  statements  axioms  the  intelli- 
gent reader  will  understand  that  I  do  not  employ  the 
word  in  its  strict  mathematical  sense.  The  truths 
set  forth,  however,  are  in  the  moral  and  religious 
sphere  what  axioms  are  in  mathematics.  That  is  to 
say,   when   the   meaning  of  the   various   terms   is 

•The  form  of  statement  in  axioms  five  and  six  is  varied  for  the 
sake  of  simplicity  and  conciseness. 


THE  AXIOMS  OF   RELIGION  75 

clearly  grasped  there  will  be  no  protest  or  objection 
in  the  reader's  mind.  I  make  bold  to  say  that  in 
America  no  member  of  any  of  those  churches  known 
as  "  evangelical  "  will  dissent  from  any  of  the  prin- 
ciples enunciated  in  this  list  of  six  axioms.  In- 
deed, it  is  believed  that  the  great  multitude  of  unbe- 
lievers— men  who  reject  Christianity  as  held  by  the 
evangelical- bodies,  but  who  are  theists,  believers  in 
a  personal  God  to  whom  man  is  responsible,  will  also 
admit  these  axioms.  I  do  not  of  course  suppose 
that  all  Roman  Catholics  will  yield  assent  to  these 
propositions  save  in  a  most  abstract  and  general 
way.  Romanism  forbids  more.  Such  of  them  as 
grasp  clearly  the  principles  of  Romanism  will  com- 
bat them  just  as  they  do  the  whole  Protestant 
standpoint  of  the  right  of  private  judgment  in  re- 
ligion. Romanism,  against  the  whole  modern  view 
of  man,  assumes  the  incompetency  of  the  soul  in 
religion.  Doubtless  also  those  in  European  coun- 
tries who  are  wedded  to  the  theory  of  a  union  of 
Church  and  State  will  repudiate  the  religio- civic 
axiom.  But  the  cases  of  the  Romanist  and  of  the 
man  who  favors  a  religious  establishment  may  for 
the  purpose  of  our  discussion  be  treated  as  ex- 
ceptional. On  the  other  hand  it  may  be  asserted 
freely  that  the  religious  and  intellectual  growth  of 
the  great  Protestant  world  since  the  Reformation 
has  been  such  that,  with  the  qualifications  just  made, 
the  six  axioms  will  meet  with  a  hearty  and  favorable 
response. 


76  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 


A  Basis  of  Agreement. 

It  will  doubtless  come  as  a  surprise  to  many  to  be 
told  that  on  the  basis  of  the  universal  assumptions 
of  the  gospel  of  the  kingdom  of  God  as  revealed 
through  Christ,  Baptists  can  set  forth  their  distinct- 
ive and  fundamental  positions  in  terms  which  are 
acceptable  to  all  evangelical  believers.  The  author 
rejoices  that  this  is  true  for  several  reasons.  He 
is  glad  that  there  are  so  many  of  the  essential  and 
fundamental  things  of  the  gospel  on  which  there  is 
at  least  theoretical  agreement.  These  things  ought 
to  serve  as  a  fresh  starting-point  for  the  considera- 
tion of  the  whole  subject  of  Christian  union ;  and 
if  they  may  in  any  measure  serve  this  end  I  shall 
feel  that  a  real  service  has  been  rendered.  The  se- 
quel will  show,  however,  that  in  the  application  and 
interpretation  of  these  axioms  of  religion  there  is 
radical  and  wide  divergence  of  view  among  the 
various  Christian  bodies.  The  chief  task  of  the 
chapters  which  follow  will  be  to  show  that  Baptists 
have  more  consistently  than  any  other  evangelical 
body  carried  out  these  principles  in  their  polity  and 
life.  It  will  appear,  indeed,  that  the  plea  of  Bap- 
tists is  a  plea  for  the  religious  rights  of  mankind. 
No  body  of  people  is  farther  in  essential  spirit  and 
aim  from  a  narrow  sectarianism.  Everything  which 
they  hold  as  distinguishing  them  from  others  is, 
so  to  speak,  a  plank  in  the  platform  of  the  chartered 
religious    rights   of   mankind,   as    revealed   in   and 


THE  AXIOMS  OF  RELIGION  ^^ 

through  Jesus  Christ.  The  six  axioms,  taken  in  con- 
nection with  the  fundamental  general  principle  out 
of  which  they  spring — the  competency  of  the  soul 
in  religion  under  God — may  be  regarded  as  the 
platform  of  human  rights  in  religion. 

Axioms  Embody  Laws  of  the  Kingdom. 

This  last  statement  is  justified  by  the  fact  that  all 
the  axiomatic  truths  announced  are  in  complete 
harmony  with  the  ideals  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
as  outlined  in  a  previous  chapter ;  indeed  they  are  an 
interpretation  in  universal  terms  of  the  contents 
of  the  laws  of  the  kingdom.  The  law  of  Salvation, 
the  law  of  Worship,  the  law  of  Edification,  the  law 
of  Liberty,  the  law  of  Brotherhood  and  Interdepend- 
ence, the  law  of  Filial  Service,  the  law  of  Holiness, 
all  these  find  interpretation  and  explication  in  the 
"  Axioms  of  Religion."  All  this,  I  think,  will  be- 
come increasingly  clear  as  we  proceed.  Meantime 
we  submit  our  axioms  as  the  "  Principia,"  the  first 
truths  of  the  Christian  religion,  just  as  the  laws  of 
the  uniformity  of  nature  and  of  universal  causation 
are  among  the  first  truths  of  science.  They  are  to  re- 
ligion what  the  alphabet  is  to  literature,  what  the  law 
of  affinity  is  to  chemistry,  and  what  the  law  of  gravi- 
tation is  to  astronomy.  The  essential  meaning  of 
these  truths  in  relation  to  our  Baptist  position  and  in 
relation  to  universal  Christianity  will  appear  as  we 
study  them  from  various  standpoints  in  the  chapters 
which    follow.     As   "  first  truths "   in   the   proper 


78  THE    AXIOMS   OF    RELIGIOX 

sense  of  the  word,  that  is,  as  fundamental  assump- 
tions, they  will  appear  to  be  harmonious  with  all 
other  truths  including  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  the 
incarnation  and  atonement  of  Christ  and  related 
teachings. 

In  conclusion  we  remark  that  the  conception  of 
the  competency  of  the  soul  in  religion  under  God, 
along  with  the  axioms  of  religion,  express  the  tniths 
and  ideals  which  lie  at  the  heart  of  all  man's  higher 
strivings  to-day.  These  truths  are  so  obvious  when 
once  understood,  so  inspiring,  so  self-evident,  that 
the  hungering  spirit  of  man  seizes  upon  them  as 
upon  the  pearl  of  great  price.  They  shine  in  their 
own  light.  Men  can  no  more  deny  them  than  they 
can  deny  the  beaut\'  of  an  orchid,  or  gainsay  the 
transparency  of  a  crj-stal,  or  criticize  the  note  of  a 
nightingale,  or  deny  the  splendor  of  the  milk}-  way. 
They  fall  under  God's  blessing,  like  notes  out  of  a 
seraph's  song  upon  the  ears  of  men.  They  catch 
and  enrapture  us  and  are  destined  to  lead  the  race 
to  greater  heights  than  any  yet  attained. 


CH.\PTER  VI 

THE    THEOLOGICAL   AXIOM  :     THE    HOLY    AND    LOVING 
GOD    HAS   A   RIGHT   TO    BE   SO^XREIGN 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  various  meanings  are 
often  attached  by  different  people  to  the  same  re- 
ligious terms  it  is  necessary-  to  explain,  as  concisely 
as  may  be,  the  meaning  and  development  of  the 
axioms  in  their  order.  This  we  shall  attempt  in  the 
next  few  chapters. 

We  begin  with  the  theological  axiom : 

Character  the  Basis  of  Sov'ereignty. 

A  holy  and  loving  God  has  the  right  to  be 
sovereign.  Men  have  ever  stumbled  at  the  doctrine 
of  God's  sovereignty,  chiefly  because  they  have  not 
understood  it.  They  have  thought  it  meant  that 
God  was  merely  a  predestinating  omnipotence,  that 
he  is  capricious  lightning,  a  meteor  God,  moving 
across  the  heavens  of  man's  hope  in  a  lawless  man- 
ner, smiting  one  and  saving  another,  without  regard 
to  moral  law.  They  have  thought  of  him  as 
sovereign  omnipotence  or  as  sovereign  omnis- 
cience instead  of  sovereign  fatherhood,  as  he  is. 
If  he  is  holy  and  loving,  if  he  has  character,  he 
has  a  right  to  be  sovereign.  We  may  say  indeed 
that  men  find  little  or  no  difncult}*  in  accepting  the 

79 


8o  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

idea  of  the  sovereignty  of  God  so  soon  as  they  rec- 
ognize character  behind  sovereignty.  Indeed,  as  a 
matter  of  logic  there  is  not  standing  room  in  the  in- 
tellect of  man  for  any  theory  which  is  opposed  to 
the  idea  of  God's  sovereignty.  Men  have  revolted 
at  a  sovereignty  which  seemed  to  them  to  be  unfair 
in  its  choice  of  some  to  salvation  to  the  exclusion  of 
others.  But  that  this  objection  was  not  directed 
against  the  idea  of  the  sovereignty  itself,  but  against 
the  results  of  its  operation  in  saving  some  men  and 
not  all,  is  seen  in  this,  that  the  doctrine  of  the  sover- 
eignty has  been  made  to  do  service  in  the  interest  of 
a  universal  salvation.  Dr.  Geo.  A.  Gordon  in  his 
book  "  The  Christ  of  To-day,"  and  elsewhere,  ex- 
pounds a  doctrine  of  divine  sovereignty  which  is 
avowedly  drawn  from  the  teachings  of  Jonathan 
Edwards.  But  Edwards  would,  if  he  could  behold 
Doctor  Gordon's  application  of  his  doctrine,  be  far 
from  accepting  it.  For  it  is  in  the  latter's  hands 
made  to  operate  as  the  principle  of  a  universal  sal- 
vation. Thus  we  see  that  so  soon  as  sovereignty 
takes  the  form  of  love,  and  particularly  a  love  which 
saves  all,  men  do  not  object  to  it,  but  rather  hail  it 
with  delight.  That  is  to  say,  character  vindicates 
sovereignty. 

There  are  two  sides,  however,  to  God's  character. 
He  is  holiness  as  well  as  love.  There  are  condi- 
tions also  wrapped  up  in  human  freedom,  the  mark 
of  moral  character  in  man  correlative  to  sovereignty 
in  God,  which  affect  the  operation  of  God's  sover- 


THE  THEOLOGICAL  AXIOM  8l 

eignty.  Doctor  Gordon  ignores  these  in  his  argu- 
ment to  show  that  sovereign  love  must  necessarily 
result  in  the  salvation  of  all.  Nevertheless  it  re- 
mains true  that  character  is  the  vindication  of 
sovereignty. 

Nature  and  Max. 

We  may  approach  the  same  truth  from  another 
side.  Modern  philosophy  and  science  have  empha- 
sized in  a  remarkable  manner  the  helplessness  of  man 
in  the  order  of  nature.  He  is  an  atom  played  upon 
by  irresistible  forces  external  to  himself.  The  reign 
of  law  in  nature  and  the  inviolability  of  the  natural 
order  have  greatly  enhanced  the  plausibility  of  this 
view.  Thus  many  hold  to  a  most  rigid  form  of 
determinism  based  on  natural  law.  The  idea  of  the 
freedom  of  the  will  is  scouted.  Man  is  the  puppet 
and  the  sport  of  a  sovereignty  of  material  forces. 
He  is  a  bit  of  matter,  serving  as  a  brick  in  the  temple 
of  nature,  with  other  material  bricks  above  and  be- 
low him.  From  that  perpendicular  and  rigid  wall 
there  is  no  escape. 

Matthew  Arnold  improved  slightly  upon  this  idea 
when  he  described  the  mighty  force  outside  of  man 
which  played  continually  upon  him,  as  "  the  power 
not  ourselves  which  makes  for  righteousness."  The 
element  of  progress  in  Arnold's  view  is  that  it  rec- 
ognizes that  the  power  not  ourselves  is  moral.  This 
is  a  step  toward  making  it  personal.  For  an  im- 
personal power  can  scarcely  be  regarded  as  "  mak- 
F 


82  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

ing  for  righteousness."  Righteousness  is  an  attri- 
bute of  personaHty. 

The  Mohammedan  makes  of  God  a  personal  being 
but  leaves  him  immoral.  "  God  is  great "  is  the 
sum  of  the  Mohammedan  ideal  of  God,  To  the 
Moslem,  therefore,  God  is  a  predestinating  omnipo- 
tence merely. 

It  is  seen  at  once  what  an  immense  stride  forward 
is  made  in  the  idea  of  God  when  the  conception  of 
an  external  force  urged  by  science  and  philosophy, 
plus  the  attribute  of  righteousness  as  advocated  by 
Arnold,  plus  the  omnipotent  Person  of  Moham- 
medanism, has  added  to  it  the  idea  of  holiness  and 
love,  and  the  idea  of  God  becomes  that  of  the  holy 
and  loving  Person. 

The  process,  however,  is  not  yet  completed.  For 
this  analysis  of  the  idea  of  sovereignty  into  its  con- 
stituent parts  of  holiness,  love,  and  personality, 
finds  strong  corroboration  in  the  experience  of  the 
spiritually  mature.  No  demand  of  the  mature  Chris- 
tian life  is  more  imperious  than  the  demand  for  a 
sovereignty  in  God  which  takes  the  form  of  holy 
and  loving  fatherhood.  The  mature  Christian  con- 
sciousness not  only  tolerates,  it  demands  it.  Life, 
in  its  blindness  and  helplessness,  in  its  sorrow  and 
its  suffering,  would  be  intolerable  without  the  solace 
of  the  belief  in  holy  and  loving  and  sovereign  father- 
hood. The  eye  of  faith  discerns  clearly  that  the  only 
safe  hands  into  which  the  affairs  of  the  universe 
may  be  entrusted  are  those  of  God  himself. 


the  theological  axiom  83 

The  Incarnation  and  Sovereignty. 

Now  sovereignty  expressed  in  terms  of  love  and 
righteousness  is  the  outstanding  fact  of  the  gos- 
pel. The  incarnation  of  God  in  Christ  is  the  greatest 
of  all  conceivable  expressions  of  that  sovereignty. 
It  is  the  expression  of  a  sovereignty  of  power,  in- 
deed, but  it  is  most  of  all  an  expression  of  the 
sovereignty  of  character,  the  sovereignty  of  holy 
and  loving  fatherhood.  Its  very  essence  is  that  the 
Father  gave  the  Son,  and  that  the  Son  came  to  re- 
veal the  Father.  Thus  God  manifests  his  sover- 
eignty in  the  first  instance  by  taking  the  initiative 
in  salvation,  and  this  initial  expression  of  sover- 
eignty in  which  he  approaches  man  and  reveals 
himself  and  pleads  with  man  to  be  reconciled  unto 
himself  through  the  revealing  Son  is  the  index  to 
all  his  sovereignty,  a  sample,  so  to  speak,  which  re- 
veals what  sovereignty  is  in  its  deepest  essence. 
A  dewdrop  on  the  grass  is  like  other  drops  of  water 
until  seen  from  the  right  angle  of  observation. 
Then  it  mirrors  and  reflects  the  sun.  Christ's  spot- 
less humanity  as  a  finite  drop  of  dew  reflects  the 
glory  of  sovereign  holiness  and  sovereign  love  tak- 
ing the  initiative  in  saving  men. 

In  discussing  our  moral  axiom  there  will  be  oc- 
casion to  make  our  plea  for  human  freedom.  At 
present  we  anticipate  it  sufficiently  to  say  that  any 
doctrine  of  divine  sovereignty  must  safeguard  man's 
freedom.    The  sovereignty  of  holy  and  loving  char- 


84  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

acter,  indeed,  expresses  itself  in  constituting  man  as 
a  free  moral  being.  Sin  came  in  and  human  nature 
became  so  biased  that,  without  God's  prevenient 
grace  the  will  inevitably  chooses  evil.  But  neither 
prevenient  nor  regenerating  grace,  nor  grace  in  any 
of  its  forms  acts  upon  the  will  by  way  of  compulsion, 
but  always  in  accordance  with  its  freedom.  The 
will  responds  and  man  chooses  for  himself  God's 
freely  offered  gift  of  salvation.  Grace  conforms  to 
the  structure  of  the  will,  pursues  its  windings,  in- 
flates but  never  forces  it,  fills  it  out  as  a  human  hand 
fits  or  fills  a  glove,  the  two  forever  distinct  and 
separate,  yet  identical  in  shape  and  united  in  destiny. 

God's  Method  Necessarily  Slow. 

Now  it  is  because  of  this  necessity  for  the  re- 
sponse of  the  human  will  that  God's  sovereignty  in 
saving  men  must  needs  pursue  a  slow  method. 
He  might  save  all  men  outright  by  a  nod,  if  salvation 
were  merely  a  question  of  power.  But  it  is  also  a 
question  of  holy  and  loving  character  in  God  and  of 
freedom  in  man.  Persuasion  is  necessary  to  con- 
vince men.  Human  agents  of  redemption,  preachers 
and  teachers  of  the  gospel  of  his  grace,  are  organic- 
ally bound  up  in  the  process  of  redemption.  Moral 
and  spiritual  laws,  by  their  very  nature,  are  only  by 
slow  degrees  incorporated  into  human  character  and 
human  society.  The  process  is  like  the  slow  knitting 
together  of  the  parts  of  a  broken  bone,  or  the  weav- 
ing, thread  by  thread,  of  a  delicate  and  beautiful 


THE  THEOLOGICAL  AXIOM  85 

fabric  on  a  loom,  or  like  the  slow  unfolding  of  the 
first  germ  of  life  in  the  seed  into  the  stately  and 
beautiful  plant.  Only  where  these  require  hours  or 
days  the  spiritual  process  requires  millenniums. 

Now  God's  election  of  men  to  salvation  is  not  the 
arbitrary  or  capricious  thing  which  some  of  the 
older  and  extreme  forms  of  the  doctrine  of  sover- 
eignty taught.  It  is  infinite  wisdom,  grace,  and  skill, 
seeking  to  save  the  world  by  the  method  which 
will  reach  the  greatest  number  in  the  shortest  time. 
This  explains  the  fact  that  election  is  a  widening 
process.  From  generation  to  generation  the  hori- 
zon broadens  and  increasing  numbers  enter  the  king- 
dom. Holiness  thus  vindicates  itself  in  that  God  re- 
fuses to  violate  man's  moral  nature,  even  in  order  to 
save  him ;  and  love  vindicates  itself  in  that  the  proc- 
ess of  saving  men  is  accelerated  as  much  as  possible 
at  every  stage.  The  limitations  upon  God  are  im- 
posed by  a  threefold  necessity :  first,  of  saving  man 
and  at  the  same  time  leaving  him  free,  which  really 
means  that  salvation  is  a  moral  process  and  not  a 
mere  physical  act  of  power;  second,  the  necessity 
of  reaching  the  human  will  while  it  is  in  such  a  state 
of  sin  as  will  certainly  lead  it  to  exercise  its  moral 
freedom  by  the  choice  of  evil  unless  restrained 
therefrom ;  and  thirdly,  the  necessity  of  employing 
human  agents  as  channels  of  his  saving  grace. 
Unless  God  does  so  employ  human  agents  he  takes 
man's  moral  task  away  from  him,  robs  him  of  his 
chief    birthright.      If    God    should    save   men    and 


86  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

sanctify  them  directly,  if  there  were  no  interdepend- 
ence among  men  in  moral  and  spiritual  effort,  no 
struggle,  no  suffering,  no  toil  and  effort  to  save 
others,  the  mainspring  of  real  moral  growth  would 
be  broken.  If  salvation  were  a  direct  miracle,  and 
sanctification  God's  immediate  act  upon  each  saved 
man  without  the  necessity  for  the  various  agencies 
and  appliances  of  the  kingdom  as  we  know  it,  it 
is  quite  true  that  many  a  heartbreak  would  be 
avoided,  and  the  long-drawn  agony  of  a  creation 
which  groaneth  and  travaileth  in  pain  together 
would  cease.  But  it  would  be  at  fearful  cost.  Plan's 
moral  freedom,  man's  privilege  of  growth,  the 
cultivation  of  the  social  virtues,  in  short  man's  op- 
portunity for  achieving  through  God's  grace  a  right- 
eousness of  his  own  in  addition  to  God's  imparted 
righteousness  would  be  gone  forever.  Thus  the  race 
would  become  spiritually  bankrupt,  and  remain  for- 
ever in  a  state  of  spiritual  childhood.  The  redemp- 
tive enterprise  is  God's  spiritual  gymnasium  where 
giants  are  made.  Only  an  apparatus  which  provides 
for  grappling  with  sin  develops  the  highest  spiritual 
power.  The  ability  to  wield  planets  and  stars  would 
be  child's  play  in  comparison. 

Man's  Freedom  and  Election. 

Recurring  now  to  the  threefold  necessity  which 
limits  holy  and  loving  sovereignty  in  saving  and 
sanctifying  men — man's  freedom,  his  inevitable 
choice  of  evil,  and  the  necessity  for  human  agents 


THE  THEOLOGICAL  AXIOM  8/ 

of  redemption — we  may  say  that  election  was  the 
only  method  left  to  God  under  the  conditions  im- 
posed by  these  necessities.  This  method  of  election 
is  relieved  of  all  appearance  of  arbitrariness  or  of  un- 
fairness, when  it  is  seen  that  it  alone  would  meet  the 
situation.  If,  in  addition,  we  suppose  that  God  be- 
gan the  electing  process  at  the  most  favorable  period 
in  the  world's  history,  and  placed  the  objects  of  his 
choice  most  favorably  for  making  use  of  them  in 
reaching  others,  and  if  in  widening  the  circle  of  his 
electing  love  he  gave  it  the  direction  most  favorable 
to  the  speediest  and  most  effective  evangelization 
of  the  whole  world ;  then  it  will  appear  that  holy 
and  loving  sovereignty  has  ever  presided  over  the 
process  of  election,  and  that  at  every  stage  of  the 
process  we  may  vindicate  the  declaration  of  Scrip- 
ture that  he  willeth  that  none  should  perish  but  that 
all  should  live. 

Strategic  Men  in  History. 

All  these  conditions  are  met  in  the  call  and  choice 
of  Abraham,  in  the  establishment  of  his  descendants 
in  Palestine,  the  highway  of  the  nations ;  in  the  dis- 
persion of  the  Jews,  who  carried  the  truth  abroad 
with  them  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  gospel ;  in  the 
call  of  Paul  the  apostle  to  the  Gentiles ;  in  the  west- 
ward course  of  evangelization  under  Paul  toward 
the  aggressive  and  missionary  Western  races  rather 
than  toward  the  passive  Orientals ;  in  the  lodging 
of  modern  missionary  effort  in  the  hands  of  the  cos- 


88  THE   AXIOMS    OF   RELIGION 

mopolitan  people  of  the  West  rather  than  in  the 
exclusive  races  of  the  East,  and  in  other  ways  which 
might  be  indicated  if  space  allowed.  Looking  at 
human  history  as  a  whole,  and  assuming  God's  sin- 
cere love  for  every  man,  and  recognizing  the  limita- 
tions imposed  upon  his  action  by  the  nature  of 
human  freedom  and  sin,  we  need  only  two  factors 
beyond  those  ordinarily  recognized  to  show  the  lov- 
ing as  well  as  the  holy  character  which  is  behind  the 
electing  sovereignty  in  redemption.  Those  factors 
are  the  selection  of  the  opportune  time  in  which  to 
act,  and  the  choice  of  strategic  men  through  whom 
grace  might  flow  to  the  world  at  large.  Abraham 
and  Paul  and  hundreds  of  others  may  illustrate  the 
principle  of  choosing  strategic  men,  and  the  New 
Testament  in  many  ways  recognizes  the  principle 
of  the  "  fulness  of  times "  in  God's  action.  In 
the  bowling  alley  the  aim  of  the  bowler  is  to  hit  the 
king  pin.  If  this  is  done  at  the  proper  angle  he 
knocks  down  all  the  other  pins.  God  is  the  Master 
Bowler  in  human  redemption  and  chooses  men  with 
a  view  to  the  largest  results  consistent  with  the  con- 
ditions and  limitations  under  which  he  must  work. 
These  have  been  pointed  out  and  grow  chiefly  out 
of  human  freedom  and  sin. 

Strategic  men  are  not  moral  men  necessarily  in 
the  first  instance,  and  their  choice  rather  than  others 
has  no  reference  to  their  moral  merit.  Paul  called 
himself  the  "  chief  of  sinners,"  and  perhaps  on  this 
very  account  he  was  a  strategic  man — a  man  through 


THE  THEOLOGICAL  AXIOM 


whom  grace  might  flow  to  the  greatest  number. 
Indeed,  Paul  expressly  asserted  this.  We  conclude 
therefore  that  God's  electing  love  is  his  effort  to 
save  the  greatest  number  in  the  shortest  time  under 
the  conditions  imposed  by  human  freedom  and  the 
necessarily  slow  processes  of  moral  growth. 

In  closing  this  part  of  our  discussion  it  should 
be  said  that  the  acceptance  of  our  theological  axiom 
is  not  necessarily  dependent  upon  the  reader's  ac- 
ceptance of  the  various  subordinate  points  in  the 
above  very  brief  outline  of  an  exceedingly  difficult 
subject.  The  essence  of  the  axiom  I  am  sure  will 
commend  itself  to  every  thoughtful  reader,  viz.,  that 
character  in  God  is  all  we  need  to  vindicate  his  sov- 
ereignty. Assume  that  God  is  holy  and  that  he  is 
also  loving  and  the  human  heart  rests  in  the  idea 
of  his  sovereignty,  indeed  demands  it  as  the  only 
possible  ground  for  security  and  peace  and  the 
ultimate  triumph  of  holiness  and  love  among  men. 

We  may  now  briefly  summarize  the  foregoing. 

The  Key  to  Sovereignty. 

What  is  the  key  to  God's  sovereignty  in  creating 
the  universe?  The  key  is  the  garden  of  Eden,  his 
desire  to  create  beings  capable  of  holiness  and  happi- 
ness. What  is  the  key  to  the  sovereignty  of  God  in 
the  incarnation  of  Christ?  Why  this,  that  sover- 
eign omnipotence  desired  to  become  sovereign  sym- 
pathy and  sovereign  patience  and  sovereign  suffer- 
ing to  redeem.     Not  the  God  sitting  on  the  circle 


90  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

of  the  heavens  contemplating  a  perishing  world  is 
the  most  winsome  God,  but  God  in  Christ  in  the 
upper  chamber  girding  himself  with  a  napkin  and 
washing  disciples'  feet. 

What  is  the  key  to  God's  sovereignty  in  provi- 
dence? Simply  this,  that  his  sympathy  and  patience 
would  provide  an  arena  and  time  for  slow  pupils  to 
achieve  character  for  themselves  and  society.  Hu- 
man society  is  as  yet  but  a  splendid  sketch  with  a 
column  here  and  portico  there,  a  corner-stone  yon- 
der. Give  it  time,  says  sovereign  holiness  and  sover- 
eign love,  and  you  will  see  a  fair  structure.  Then 
too,  there  is  that  image  of  the  prophet,  so  repugnant 
to  many,  which  likens  God  to  the  potter  and  man  to 
clay.    But  look  at  the  image. 

The  potter  has  in  his  mind's  eye  a  beautiful  image 
which  he  would  reproduce,  and  he  molds  it  on  the 
wheel  which  is  before  him,  and  if  it  is  yielding  and 
plastic  the  result  is  as  he  wishes.  But  if  the  clay  is 
refractory,  the  vessel  is  marred — all  of  which  means 
that  God  will  not  do  violence  to  the  will  of  man.  His 
sovereignty  is  holy  and  it  is  loving;  it  respects  hu- 
man freedom.  And  so  everywhere.  The  sovereign 
God  is  the  holy  God  and  the  loving  God.  He  will 
reproduce  in  human  life  and  society  the  order  and 
the  beauty,  the  majesty  and  power  of  the  material 
heavens,  with  its  glittering  constellations  and  flash- 
ing suns ;  he  will  communicate  to  men  his  own  bless- 
edness until  they  reflect  in  themselves  the  harmony 
and  melody,  the  might  and  the  glory  of  the  angelic 


THE  THEOLOGICAL  AXIOM  9I 

hosts  which  continually  encircle  his  throne.  But  he 
will  be  sovereign ;  he  holds  the  reigns  of  power  that 
none  of  the  winged  horses  which  draw  his  mighty 
chariot,  though  coursing  across  the  sky  on  flaming 
hoofs,  shall  become  unruly  or  bring  on  disaster. 
Even  sin  will  he  overrule,  so  that  in  a  deep,  true 
sense  it  is  true, 

That  nothing  walks  with  aimless  feet, 
That  not  one  life  shall  be  destroyed 
Or  cast  as  rubbish  to  the  void 

When  God  hath  made  the  pile  complete. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   RELIGIOUS   AXIOM  :     ALL    MEN    HAVE   AN    EQUAL 
RIGHT    TO    DIRECT    ACCESS    TO    GOD 

There  needs  to  be  little  said  in  explanation  of  the 
terms  of  our  religious  axiom.  It  will  scarcely  be 
denied  by  any.  It  simply  asserts  the  inalienable 
right  of  every  soul  to  deal  with  God  for  itself.  It 
implies  of  course  man's  capacity  to  commune  with 
God.  It  assumes  the  likeness  between  God  and  man. 
It  is  based  on  the  principle  of  the  soul's  competency 
in  religion.  It  asserts  that  on  the  question  of  spirit- 
ual privilege  there  are  no  such  differences  in  human 
nature  as  warrant  our  drawing  a  line  between  men 
and  claiming  for  one  group  in  this  particular  what 
cannot  be  claimed  for  others.  It  denies  that  there 
are  any  barriers  to  any  soul  to  any  part  of  the 
Father's  grace.  There  can  therefore  be  no  special 
classes  in  religion.  The  spiritual  belong  to  God's 
family.  They  all  have  equal  access  to  the  Father's 
table,  the  Father's  ear,  and  the  Father's  heart. 

Conversely  this  religious  axiom  implies  and  car- 
ries with  it  the  truth  that  to  deprive  any  soul  of  the 
privilege  of  direct  access  to  God  is  tyranny.  For 
one  soul  to  assume  the  religious  privilege  or  obliga- 
tion of  another  is  a  contradiction  in  terms.  Re- 
ligion by  its  very  nature  forbids  such  assumption. 
92 


THE  RELIGIOUS  AXIOM  93 

This  axiom  of  course  does  not  forbid  the  setting 
apart  of  ministers  or  officials  to  perform  certain 
specified  duties  for  the  sake  of  convenience  or  ex- 
pediency' in  the  church.  It  is  only  when  such  of- 
ficials presume  to  monopolize  for  themselves  the 
privileges  or  appointments  of  the  Lord's  house,  or 
when  they,  through  spiritual  usurpation,  become 
lords  over  the  faith  and  life  of  others,  that  there  is 
violation  of  the  axiom.  Nor  does  our  axiom  stand 
opposed  to  all  those  manifold  forms  of  sympathy 
and  helpfulness  in  the  religious  life  from  one  to 
another  among  the  non-official  members  of  the 
churches.  Here  again  it  is  only  when  the  one  life 
trenches  upon  the  spiritual  rights  or  duties  of  the 
other  that  the  axiom  raises  the  finger  of  warning. 

The  Principle  of  Individualism  in  Religion. 

The  axiom,  of  course,  asserts  the  principle  of  in- 
dividualism in  religion.  Primarily  the  religious 
relation  is  a  relation  between  God  and  the  individual 
man.  Religious  privilege  and  religious  duty  sub- 
sist between  men  and  God  in  the  first  instance  in 
their  capacity  as  individuals  and  only  secondarily 
in  their  social  relations.  On  the  social  side  of  their 
religious  life  there  is  nothing  which  can  properly 
destroy  the  freedom  of  access  which  all  men  have  to 
God,  or  in  any  way  mar  that  fellowship. 

As  Christ  is  the  mediator  between  God  and  man, 
man's  religious  life  is  established  and  maintained 
through  Christ.     "  No  one  cometh  unto  the  Father 


94  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

but  by  me,"  is  Christ's  own  word  on  the  subject. 
Indeed  this  point  is  too  clear  from  all  the  New  Tes- 
tament teachings  to  require  elaboration  here.  Its 
connection  with  our  religious  axiom  is  clear  in  this : 
Direct  access  to  God  through  Christ  is  the  law  of 
the  Christian  life.  It  is  a  species  of  spiritual  tyranny 
for  men  to  interpose  the  church  itself,  its  ordinances, 
or  ceremonies,  or  its  formal  creeds,  between  the 
human  soul  and  Christ.  This  will  become  increas- 
ingly clear  as  we  proceed.  For  the  present  we  men- 
tion it  as  a  part  of  our  statement  of  the  contents  of 
the  religious  axiom.  Some  have  erroneously  sup- 
posed that  Baptists  make  a  saving  ordinance  of 
baptism.  Such  a  conception  is  radically  at  variance 
with  our  religious  axiom  and  with  the  whole  Bap- 
tist standpoint. 

Since  the  Reformation  this  axiom  has  found  ex- 
pression in  nothing  more  than  in  the  exercise  of  the 
individual's  right  of  private  interpretation  of  the 
Scriptures.  It  guarantees  the  right  of  examining 
God's  revelation  each  man  for  himself,  and  of  an- 
swering directly  to  God  in  belief  and  conduct. 

New  Testament  Teachings. 

I.  How  vital  the  religious  axiom  is  to  the  Chris- 
tianity of  Christ  appears  from  numerous  very  strik- 
ing teachings.  The  soul's  direct  relation  to  God 
and  God's  immediate  contact  with  the  soul's  life 
appear  from  the  following  scriptures.  Christ  said 
to  Peter  that  on  him  he  would  build  his  church  after 


THE  RELIGIOUS  AXIOM  95 

the  latter  had  confessed  him  as  the  Messiah,  and 
Christ  had  spoken  to  him  the  memorable  words, 
"  Flesh  and  blood  hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee, 
but  the  Spirit  of  my  Father  in  heaven."  ^  Intelli- 
gent personal  grasp  of  truth  and  inner  illumination 
of  the  Spirit  are  a  part  of  the  structural  law  of  the 
church.  Without  these  the  church  is  not  a  church. 
It  is  in  the  same  context  that  Christ  gives  to  Peter 
the  keys  of  the  kingdom  and  the  power  of  binding 
and  loosing.-  Experimental  knowledge  of  the  truth 
as  revealed  to  the  heart  of  the  individual  directly 
by  the  Father  is  the  only  possible  key  to  the  kingdom 
of  God. 

In  harmony  with  this  is  Christ's  saying  in  con- 
nection with  his  parabolic  teachings,  "  Unto  you  it 
is  given  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  but  to  them  it  is  not  given."  ^  Here  the  re- 
lation of  knowledge  to  spirituality  is  manifest. 
Ceremonialism  in  any  form  apart  from  knowledge 
is  alien  to  the  spirit  of  the  gospel.  Quite  in  keeping 
with  this  requirement  of  knowledge  is  Paul's  strik- 
ing statement  (i  Cor.  2  :  4)  that  his  ministry  took 
the  form  not  of  sacerdotalism  or  the  administration 
of  ceremonies,  but  that  it  was  a  message  which  he 
delivered  and  which  went  to  its  mark  in  the  hearts 
of  men  "  in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  of 
power."  Here  again  the  primacy  of  the  word  of 
God  as  the  instrument  of  the  kingdom  is  entirely 
clear.     Spiritual  truth  addressed  to  the  soul  and 

'Matt.   16  :   17.  ^'Matt.  i6  :   19.  »  Matt.  13  :   11. 


96  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

demonstrated  directly  to  it  by  the  Spirit  is  of  the 
essence  of  Christianity.  Then  too,  in  Hebrews  the 
nature  of  the  new  covenant  is  set  forth  in  terms 
which  for  substance  are  the  same  as  the  passage  just 
cited.  The  law  of  God  is  written  on  the  heart. 
"  I  will  put  my  laws  into  their  mind,  and  on  their 
heart  also  will  I  write  them  .  .  .  and  they  shall  not 
teach  every  man  his  fellow  citizen,  and  every  man 
his  brother,  saying,  Know  ye  the  Lord;  for  all 
shall  know  me  from  the  least  to  the  greatest  of 
them."  ^  Here  again  personal  knowledge,  derived 
from  God  himself,  and  not  even  from  the  brethren 
is  the  characteristic  mark  of  the  members  of  the 
kingdom.  And  this  knowledge  is  the  possession 
of  all,  from  the  least  unto  the  greatest.  None  in 
the  kingdom  are  too  young  or  too  ignorant  to  par- 
take of  the  knowledge  revealed  therein. 

Perhaps  most  suggestive  of  all  is  the  passage  re- 
garding the  unpardonable  sin.  That  sin  is  hardness 
of  heart  which  takes  the  form  of  opposition  to  or 
blasphemy  against  the  Holy  Ghost.  Refusal  to  re- 
ceive the  "  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  " — that  is,  the 
distinctive  evidence  supplied  by  the  Spirit  within 
the  soul  and  in  mighty  works  without — is  the  un- 
pardonable sin.  Such  resistance  to  the  Spirit,  which 
there  is  not  space  to  define  more  fully,  indicates  that 
the  soul  has  passed  the  supreme  spiritual  crisis, 
from  which  there  is  no  recovery.  The  sphere  in 
which  the  unpardonable  sin  takes  place  is  the  sphere 


THE  RELIGIOUS  AXIOM  97 

of  the  inner  relations  between  God's  Spirit  and 
man's,  and  the  form  it  assumes  is  resistance  to  the 
truth  which  the  Spirit  reveals. 

Summary  of  the  Scripture  Teachings. 

We  may  now  sum  up  the  contents  of  the  five  pas- 
sages as  follows:  In  Christ's  words  to  Peter  it  is 
clear  that  the  characteristic  confession  of  the  king- 
dom is  the  confession  of  the  Messianic  truth ;  in  the 
next  passage  the  characteristic  privilege  of  the  king- 
dom is  knowledge  of  its  mysteries ;  in  the  third  pas- 
sage the  characteristic  method  and  ministry  of  the 
kingdom  is  "  demonstration  "  of  the  truth  by  the 
Spirit ;  in  the  fourth  the  characteristic  description 
of  the  kingdom  is  of  men  on  whose  hearts  the  truth 
has  been  written  by  the  inner  demonstration  of  the 
Spirit.  In  the  final  passage  the  characteristic  and 
unpardonable  sin  of  the  kingdom  is  resistance  to 
the  work  of  the  Spirit  who  conducts  the  spiritual 
demonstration  within. 

These  teachings  of  Scripture  simply  give  in 
striking  form  from  the  New  Testament  itself  the 
essential  contents  of  the  religious  axiom.  They 
disclose  to  us  the  peculiar  and  distinctive  quality  of 
Christianity  as  a  religion  which  asserts  as  inviola- 
ble the  direct  relation  of  the  soul  to  God,  and  the 
universal  necessity  of  truth  as  the  instrument  of 
God's  intercourse  with  man.  It  must  follow  from 
these  facts  that  certain  things  are  excluded  from 
Christianity  by  virtue  of  its  essential  nature.     One 

G 


98  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

is  the  assumption  on  the  part  of  one  of  the  religious 
obHgations  of  another.  It  is  clear  that  one  man  can- 
not repent  or  believe  or  obey  for  another.  It  is 
clear  that  to  attempt  thus  a  vicarious  repentance  or 
faith  or  obedience  is  a  contradiction  of  the  elemen- 
tary principles  of  the  Christian  religion.  No  soul 
can  on  any  ground  perform  these  acts  for  another 
on  the  one  hand,  nor  on  the  other  can  one  soul 
perform  such  acts  for  another  as  will  exempt  the 
other  from  obligation  to  perform  them  for  himself. 
The  most  intimate  of  all  human  relationships  do 
not  avail  for  this  purpose.  Family  ties  are  the 
closest.  Yet  Jesus  repeatedly  asserted  that  family 
ties  must  be  broken,  if  need  be,  in  order  to  realize 
the  ideal  of  direct  dealing  with  God  through  him. 
"  He  that  loveth  father  or  mother  more  than  me 
is  not  worthy  of  me."  ^  "  I  came  not  to  send  peace 
but  a  sword."  -  "  A  man's  foes  shall  be  they  of  his 
own  household."  ^  "  My  mother  and  my  brethren 
are  these  which  hear  the  word  of  God  and  do  it."  * 

The  Principle  Not  Annulled  by  Covenant 
Relations. 

So  vital  is  this  principle  of  the  direct  relation  of 
the  soul  to  God  under  Christianity  that  no  covenant 
relations  growing  out  of  the  theocracy  of  Israel  can 
annul  it  or  aflfect  it.  Other  things  were  preparatory 
to  it  and  led  up  to  it.    The  Old  Testament  records 

*  Matt.  10  :  37.  2  Matt    jq  .  34, 

8  Matt.    10  :  36.  «Matt.   8  :  21. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  AXIOM  99 

especially  in  the  later  prophets  give  evidence  of  a 
relaxing  of  the  principle  of  family  solidarity  which 
prevailed  in  the  earlier  periods.  In  Ezekiel  and 
Isaiah  individualism  in  religion  is  proclaimed  as 
the  law  of  the  soul's  relation  to  God  and,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  asserts  that  this 
individualism  is  the  distinct  mark  of  the  new  as 
contrasted  with  the  old  covenant. 

2.  The  religious  axiom,  then,  is  that  all  souls  have 
an  equal  right  to  direct  access  to  God.  It  is  now  in 
order  to  trace  in  outline  the  violation  of  the  principle 
contained  in  this  axiom  in  the  course  of  Christian 
history.  We  shall  devote  the  greater  part  of  the 
present  chapter  to  infant  baptism  as  the  most  strik- 
ing illustration  of  a  departure  from  Christianity, 
still  prevalent  among  many  evangelical  bodies,  into 
whose  doctrine  and  practice  it  came  from  Roman 
Catholicism,  and  with  many  of  whose  essential  prin- 
ciples it  is  directly  at  variance.  It  is  in  direct  con- 
tradiction of  the  religious  axiom.  Infant  baptism 
really  has  no  logical  place  in  Presbyterianism  or 
Methodism,  or  Congregationalism,  if  we  are  to  draw 
conclusions  from  the  light  of  history.  Or  if  these 
bodies  insist  that  it  has  a  logical  place  in  their 
systems,  they  thereby  cast  away  in  principle  the 
chief  part  of  their  spiritual  birthright.  My  plea  in 
this  chapter  is  not  merely  a  polemic  against  infant 
baptism.  It  is  far  more  an  appeal  to  evangelical 
denominations,  with  noble  histories  behind  them, 
to  cast  out  an  alien  element  and  conform  to  their 


THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 


own  higher  principles  and  ideals.  If  the  reader  will 
not  prejudge  the  case  I  think  this  will  become  clear 
before  we  have  finished.  All  evangelical  bodies 
which  practise  infant  baptism  erect  in  their  church 
life  a  double  Christianity,  a  twofold  conception,  the 
parts  of  which  are  in  radical  and  irrepressible 
conflict. 

The  Departure  of  Early  Christianity. 

But  first  we  must  glance  at  the  departure  of  the 
church  in  the  early  Christian  centuries  from  the 
principle  of  our  religious  axiom.  Here  we  are  on 
undisputed  ground,  as  to  the  historic  facts  them- 
selves, at  least  among  Protestant  historians  of  all 
names.  There  is  substantial  agreement  among  them, 
with  variations  in  details  of  course,  on  all  the  leading 
facts  which  follow  as  to  early  modifications  of  New 
Testament  Christianity. 

There  were  four  leading  forces  which  had  a  share 
in  the  corruption  of  early  Christianity.  These  were 
paganism  as  a  religious  force,  Gnosticism,  Judaism, 
and  Roman  imperialism.  The  resultant  corruptions 
or  modifications  of  the  New  Testament  teachings 
may  be  summed  up  as  episcopacy  and  sacerdotalism, 
or  in  terms  which  are  equivalent,  as  ecclesiastical 
imperialism  and  sacramentalism.  Episcopacy  is  not 
the  same  as  sacerdotalism.  The  bishop  is  for  gov- 
ernment, the  priest  administers  sacraments.  Of 
course  the  two  overlap  and  constantly  tend  to  be 
merged,  the  one  in  the  other.    For  present  purposes 


THE  RELIGIOUS  AXIOM 


we  confine  our  attention  for  the  most  part  to  the 
development  of  the  priest  and  the  sacrament.  For 
it  was  here,  perhaps  more  than  in  episcopacy,  in  its 
earher  stages,  that  the  rehgious  axiom  was  obscured 
or  ignored. 

The  simplicity  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper, 
the  two  ordinances  instituted  by  Jesus  Christ,  was 
only  gradually  corrupted  into  the  elaborate  sacra- 
mentalism  of  the  later  Roman  Catholicism.  The 
facts  are  substantially  as  follows :  Paganism  had 
certain  rites  and  ceremonies  which  were  analogous  in 
some  respects  to  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 
With  these  rites  certain  mysteries  were  connected. 
Weak  and  carnal  Christians  lately  won  from  pagan- 
ism would  naturally  bring  over  some  of  their 
heathen  conceptions  with  them.  These  rites  and 
their  corresponding  mysteries  would  in  a  measure 
color  their  views  of  baptism  and  the  Supper. 
Another  idea  of  paganism,  almost  ineradicable  in- 
deed, was  the  necessity  of  the  priest  and  the  priest- 
hood in  religion.  A  religion  of  direct  and  immediate 
relations  between  God  and  man  seemed  to  the  pagan 
mind  inconceivable.  This  of  course  would  make 
easy  the  transition  to  a  sacerdotal  Christianity. 
Judaism  and  Old  Testament  teachings  would  lend 
color  to  the  idea  of  a  human  priesthood,  and  its 
ceremonialism  would  tend  to  foster  corresponding 
practices  in  the  church.  All  these  tendencies  would 
combine  to  obscure  the  one  sufficient  sacrifice  and 
the  sole  priesthood  of  Jesus  as  the  author  of  salva- 


I02  THE   AXIOMS    OF    RELIGION 

tion,  and  the  universal  priesthood  of  behevers  as  the 
subjects  of  salvation. 

Baptism  and  Heathen  Rites. 

It  was  but  a  single  step  to  transfer  the  idea  of 
magical  efficacy  in  the  heathen  rites  over  to  baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper.  Accordingly  in  the  second 
and  third  centuries  men  began  to  connect  remission 
of  sins  with  baptism.  This  early  view  still  required 
repentance  and  faith  as  conditions  of  remission, 
although  actual  remission  occurred  only  at  baptism. 
It  was  the  first  step  toward  the  conception  that 
magical  efficacy  resides  in  baptism.  Justin  Martyr 
in  his  "  First  Apology  "  taught  that  we  are  regener- 
ated in  baptism.^  Slowly  the  view  that  baptism  has 
a  magical  power  gained  ground.  It  was  greatly 
aided  by  the  Stoic  philosophy  of  the  period  es- 
pecially in  the  hands  of  Tertullian.  The  chief  ele- 
ment in  this  philosophy  was  its  idea  of  substance 
(substantia).  The  essence  of  all  things  is  a  sub- 
stance. Nothing  exists  which  is  not  corporeal. 
What  is  without  body  is  without  being.  Spirit 
is  a  kind  of  body.  God  is  body-substance.  Now,  it 
is  not  difficult  to  see  how  this  philosophy  would 
affect  the  growing  tendency  to  ascribe  a  magical  and 
sacramental  efficacy  to  the  material  elements  of  bap- 
tism and  the  Lord's  Supper.  Thus  arose  a  philo- 
sophic and  apparently  rational  vindication  of  the 
sacramental  view. 

'A.  H.  Newman:  "History  of  Antipedobaptistn,"  p.  4. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  AXIOM  IO3 

The  doctrine  of  original  sin  was  made  use  of  to 
the  same  end.  This  sin  affects  infants  as  well  as 
others.  Baptism  has  inherent  power.  Hence  its 
application  to  infants  cleanses  them  from  sin — re- 
generates them.  Infant  lustrations  were  practised 
among  the  heathen,  and  this  would  prepare  the  way 
for  infant  baptism.  Thus  generally  were  the  or- 
dinances transformed  from  symbols  into  sacraments 
with  saving  power.  Without  baptism  there  was  no 
salvation. 

A  Great  Abuse  of  Human  Power. 

But  a  priest  was  needed  to  impart  its  sacred  char- 
acter to  the  sacrament  and  to  administer  it.  Ter- 
tullian  is  the  first  who  called  ministers  priests.  But 
the  idea  develops  rapidly  after  him.  Cyprian  com- 
pleted the  conception.  The  priesthood  now  becomes 
the  depositaries  of  the  mysteries  and  the  grace  of 
God.  The  hierarchy  is  slowly  evolved.  The  "  power 
of  the  keys  "  is  transferred  to  an  exclusive  priest- 
hood. The  church  consists  of  the  hierarchy.  Out- 
side of  the  church  is  no  salvation.  Thus  the  church, 
the  priesthood,  and  the  sacraments  are  all  inter- 
posed between  the  soul  and  God.  Christianity  slowly 
crystallizes  under  the  action  of  the  new  principle 
and  all  its  faces  and  angles  are  changed.  Faith 
passes  into  a  long  eclipse.  Direct  relations  to  God 
are  unknown.  Forgiveness  now  becomes  absolu- 
tion ;  prayer  becomes  confession  to  a  priest.  Re- 
generation   takes    place    in    baptism,    and    baptism 


104  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

is  administered  in  infancy,  lest  death  ensue  before 
the  sacrament  is  appHed.  The  whole  machinery  of 
religion  passes  over  into  the  hands  of  a  human 
priesthood  with  its  terrible  power  of  spiritual 
tyranny.  The  sacraments  are  multiplied  from  two 
to  seven,  and  each  adds  a  resistless  weapon  to  those 
already  possessed  by  a  set  of  priestly  lords  of  the 
consciences  of  men.  The  priestly  power  culminates 
in  the  interdict  by  virtue  of  which  a  man  of  clay, 
like  other  men,  sitting  in  Rome  yonder,  can  exclude 
whole  cities  and  countries  from  the  grace  of  God, 
can  shut  the  gates  of  heaven  to  millions  of  fellow- 
mortals  and  fellow-sinners.  The  great  elemental 
truth  that  all  souls  have  an  equal  right  to  direct  ac- 
cess to  God  passed  out  of  human  thought  so  far  as 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church  was  able  to  influence 
that  thought.  If  it  survived  it  was  confined  to 
those  in  monasteries  and  among  the  despised  sects 
and  was  inoperative  in  Christendom  at  large. 

The  above  sketch  is  of  course  exceedingly  brief 
and  necessarily  inadequate.  But  it  will  serve  to  indi- 
cate the  direction  of  ecclesiastical  development  until 
the  Reformation.  But  the  Reformation  ushered  in 
a  new  era  for  mankind,  which  I  cannot  here  dis- 
cuss save  in  so  far  as  its  principles  are  applicable  to 
the  subject  in  hand. 

What  Luther  found  confronting  him  at  the  out- 
set of  his  great  movement,  therefore,  was  an  ec- 
clesiastical closed  system  in  which  the  sacraments, 
the  priesthood,  the  hierarchy,  the  church,  and  the 


THE  RELIGIOUS  AXIOM  I05 

pope,  were  the  central  influences  and  agencies.  The 
people  were  relegated  entirely  to  the  background. 
The  whole  of  Christian  theology  had  been  econo- 
mized and  modified  in  the  interest  of  the  sacramen- 
tal idea.  Man  is  incapable  of  transacting  directly  with 
God.  Human  mediators  were  essential  to  the  theory 
and  the  practice  of  religion.  Luther's  battle  was  di- 
rected not  merely  against  evils  in  the  church,  nor  was 
it,  of  course,  the  result  simply  of  a  quarrel  among 
priests  about  doctrine.  In  its  deepest  and  essential 
meaning  it  was  a  revolt  against  spiritual  tyranny, 
it  was  the  assertion  of  the  fundamental  truth  of  our 
religious  axiom  that  all  souls  have  an  equal  right 
to  direct  access  to  God.  As  is  well  known  Luther 
did  not  at  first  think  of  leaving  the  church  of  Rome. 
Essentially  it  was  Christ's  church  but  it  needed  re- 
forming, was  his  early  thought.  He  was  like  the 
man  who  remarked :  "  If  you  were  to  give  me  a  fine 
peach  and  it  was  so  decayed  that  it  could  not  be 
eaten,  I  would  not  throw  it  away,  I  would  plant  it 
and  from  the  seed  I  would  get  a  tree  that  would 
yield  me  a  crop  of  fine  peaches  every  year."  Luther 
thought  he  would  plant  the  decayed  Romish  peach 
and  obtain  a  new  harvest  of  fruit.  But,  alas,  he 
soon  discovered  that  the  seed  itself  was  bad  and 
neither  tree  nor  fruit  could  come  therefrom. 

There  are,  of  course,  various  ways  of  stating  the 
principles  of  the  Reformation,  but  they  all  come 
practically  to  the  same  thing.  Doctor  Schaflf,  in  his 
"  History  of  the  Christian  Church  "  sums  them  up 


I06  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

as  follows :  "  There  are  three  fundamental  principles 
of  the  Reformation,  the  supremacy  of  the  Scrip- 
tures over  tradition,  the  supremacy  of  faith  over 
works,  and  the  supremacy  of  the  Christian  people 
over  an  exclusive  priesthood."  ^  These  are  the  ob- 
jective, the  subjective,  and  the  social  principles  of 
the  Reformation.  Each  of  these  principles  accent- 
uates in  its  own  way  our  religious  axiom.  The 
objective  principle  of  the  authoritative  Scriptures 
asserts  that  every  man  has  a  right  to  read  and  in- 
terpret the  word  of  God  for  himself,  under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  Spirit,  untrammeled  by  human  tradition. 
The  subjective  principle  of  faith  in  God  and  jus- 
tification through  Christ  restores  to  the  soul  its 
spiritual  birthright  of  individual  responsibility  and 
privilege  in  direct  dealings  with  God.  The  social 
principle  accents  the  priesthood  of  all  believers 
against  the  claims  of  an  exclusive  priesthood,  which 
means  of  course  that  there  can  be  no  priestly  class 
in  the  church  of  God.  All  are  priests  alike.  This, 
then,  was  the  threefold  plea  of  the  Reformers,  the 
supremacy  of  the  Scriptures,  justification  by  faith, 
and  the  priesthood  of  all  believers.  In  short,  Roman- 
ism stood  for  indirect  and  the  Reformation  for  direct 
access  to  God  on  the  part  of  man.  At  every  point 
this  one  principle  was  the  kernel  of  the  issue.  The 
inner  logic  of  the  Protestant  movement,  its  implicit 
law,  is  this  idea  of  the  direct  relationship  between 
the  human  soul  and  God,  just  as  the  inner  logic  and 

'  "  History  of  the  Christian  Church,"  Vol.  VI,  p.  i6. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  AXIOM  I07 

implicit  law  of  Romanism  is  the  principle  of  the  in- 
direct relations  between  God  and  man. 

The  Troublesome  Question  of  Infant  Baptism. 

We  consider  next  one  of  the  most  troublesome 
questions  of  the  Reformation,  that  which  related  to 
the  baptism  of  infants.  As  is  well  known  the  Re- 
formers retained  the  practice,  while  the  Anabaptists 
and  other  radicals  rejected  it.  No  one  to-day  claims 
any  direct  and  explicit  teaching  of  Scripture  for 
infant  baptism.  It  is  based  by  those  who  practise 
it  on  inferences  and  deductions  rather  than  explicit 
teaching  on  the  subject.  It  is  not  our  purpose  here 
to  deal  with  this  aspect  of  the  matter.  Exegesis  has 
won  the  day  in  favor  of  believers'  baptism.  But  it 
will  be  profitable  to  examine  infant  baptism  in  the 
light  of  our  religious  axiom. 

Luther  and  the  other  Reformers  found  infant 
baptism  the  universal  practice  in  the  Roman  Church. 
Under  the  principle  of  opus  operatiim  it  was  re- 
garded as  efficacious  in  regenerating  the  soul  even  in 
the  absence  of  faith.  The  principle  involved  in  the 
opus  operatum  was  that  the  sacraments  conveyed 
grace  always  unless  mortal  sin  were  interposed  as  a 
barrier.  Infant  baptism  therefore  was  a  logical  and 
consistent  custom.  Infants  do  not  and  cannot  have 
faith.  But  then  the  sacraments  do  not  require  faith. 
This  was  the  Roman  Catholic  view.  It  was  at  this 
point  that  the  Reformers  encountered  trouble.  The 
faith  principle  was  of  the  essence  of  the  whole  Ref- 


I08  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

ormation  movement.  Without  it  the  entire  fabric 
fell  in  ruins  like  a  house  of  cards.  Yet  the  Ana- 
baptists pointed  out  that  infant  baptism  had  no  place 
in  New  Testament  Christianity  because  there  could 
be  no  faith.  Luther  retorts  in  a  manner  which  pro- 
vokes a  smile :  "  How  will  they  prove,"  said  he, 
"  that  infants  do  not  believe  ?  Because  forsooth  they 
do  not  speak  and  show  forth  faith.  Very  well.  By 
this  reasoning  how  many  hours  will  we  ourselves 
not  be  Christians,  while  we  sleep  and  do  other 
things?  Cannot  God  therefore  in  the  same  manner 
throughout  the  whole  period  of  infancy,  as  in  a 
continuous  sleep  preserve  faith  in  them  ?  "  ^ 

Melancthon  had  serious  misgivings  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  Zwingli's  clear  mind  perceived  distinctly 
that  the  Reformers'  principle  of  faith  necessarily  ex- 
cluded infant  baptism  and  so  taught  in  his  earlier 
career.  Under  pressure  of  ancient  custom,  however, 
and  for  expediency's  sake  he  finally  decided  to  re- 
tain it,  and  sought  to  find  Scripture  warrant  for  it. 

Thus  it  was  that  the  Reformers  admitted  into  the 
Reformation  an  alien  principle  which  led  to  end- 
less difficulty.  The  necessity  for  faith  they  could 
not  deny,  and  yet  infants  had  no  faith.  The  Roman 
Catholic  doctrine  of  the  sacrament  that  it  is  opus 
operatum,  a  thing  efficacious  without  faith,  they 
could  not  admit.  They  retained  infant  baptism 
nevertheless,  and  from  that  day  to  this  have  strug- 
gled in  vain  to  naturalize  it  in  Protestantism.    The 

'A.  H.  Newman:  "History  of  Anti-pedobaptism,"  p.  72. 


THE   RELIGIOUS  AXIOM  IO9 


Struggle  continues  to-day  in  Europe  and  America 
with  no  hope  of  solution,  for  the  reason  that  there  is 
an  irrepressible  conflict  between  the  principle  of  jus- 
tification by  faith  and  infant  baptism.  One  principle 
holds  to  the  direct  the  other  to  the  indirect  access 
of  the  soul  to  God,  and  in  all  Protestant  bodies 
which  practise  infant  baptism  the  two  principles 
exist  side  by  side  in  a  state  of  unstable  equilibrium, 
because  they  are  irreconcilable  with  each  other. 

Contradictions  in  the  Protestant  Systems, 

3.  We  proceed  now  to  trace  briefly  this  conflict 
in  some  of  the  Protestant  churches.  We  begin  with 
the  Lutheran  Church  in  Germany.  In  a  recent 
volume  Professor  Liitgert  of  Halle  has  given  an 
instructive  sketch  of  this  controversy  inside  of  the 
Lutheran  body.^  As  already  indicated  Luther  re- 
sisted the  Catholic  doctrine  of  sacramental  efficacy 
without  faith.  On  the  other  hand  he  sought  to  meet 
the  Anabaptists  who  denied  faith  in  infants,  by  as- 
serting the  objectivity  of  baptism,  i.  e.,  faith  does  not 
create  the  baptism  but  baptism  creates  faith.  God 
through  baptism  thus  communicates  faith  to  the 
infant.  Faith  of  course  gives  rise  to  the  new  birth 
and  so  in  baptism  the  infant  is  born  again.  But  the 
matter  did  not  rest  here.  Gradually  the  Lutheran 
teachers  drifted  back  into  the  Catholic  view,  and 
Hollaz  and  Baier  asserted  that  grace  and  faith  are 
communicated  always  where  no  evil  will  is  raised 

>  Wilhelm  Lutgert:  "  Gottes  Sohn  und  Gottes  Geist."  p.  126  ff. 


THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 


in  opposition  to  God/  without  faith.  Slight  as  this 
variation  is  from  the  orthodox  Lutheran  view 
Chemnitz  and  others  denounced  it  as  a  return  to 
the  Romanist  view  of  the  opus  operatum. 

The  danger  of  this  view  was  that  it  made  faith 
mere  passivity  and  it  became  one  of  the  leading 
causes  of  passive  churches.  Conversion,  the  awaken- 
ing of  faith,  was  no  longer  the  task  of  preaching  or 
of  Christian  nurture.  The  reaction  was  inevitable. 
It  came  in  a  pietism  which  sought  the  conversion  of 
men  and  made  this  its  chief  task. 

The  Lutheran  doctrine  was  attacked  from  another 
side  by  those  who  yet  held  to  infant  baptism.  Cal- 
vin asserted  that  God  could  give  an  inner  illumina- 
tion to  the  baptized  infant  without  the  preaching 
of  the  word.  Calvin  did  not  assert  with  Luther  that 
infants  became  believing  in  baptism,  but  asserted 
that  through  a  secret  energy  of  the  Spirit  the  seed 
of  faith  and  repentance  is  planted.  Thus  arose  the 
distinction  between  the  seed  of  faith  and  faith  itself. 
The  Lutherans  objected  vigorously.  The  danger 
in  Calvin's  view  is  in  recognizing  through  this  inner 
illumination  a  new  birth  where  there  is  no  faith. 
Faith  is  expressly  denied  and  yet  the  new  birth 
asserted. 

But  in  the  nineteenth  century,  Lutherans  in  a 
noteworthy  manner  attached  themselves  to  Calvin's 
view.  W.  Hoffman,  and  Martensen,  and  Hofling, 
under  the  pressure  of  pietism  and  other  influences, 

>  Liitgert,  p.  135. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  AXIOM  III 

asserted  a  view  practically  identical  with  that  of 
Calvin.  Baptism  communicates,  they  said,  not  the 
new  birth  itself,  but  the  power  of  the  new  birth. 
In  the  infant  this  power  of  the  new  birth  was  not  in 
consciousness  itself,  but  in  the  sub-conscious  part  of 
the  soul.  It  lies  there  germinally,  so  to  speak,  below 
consciousness.  But  orthodox  Lutheranism  rejected 
this  as  subversive  of  the  baptismal  teaching  which 
asserts  that  the  sacrament  is  nothing  without  faith. 
They  opposed  this  later  doctrine  also  as  a  return  to 
the  Roman  Catholic  opus  o  per  at  urn,  which  denies 
the  necessity  of  faith  in  order  to  the  efficacy  of  bap- 
tism.^ Thus  we  come  to  the  present  time  in  which 
the  orthodox  Lutherans  assert  that  neither  faith,  nor 
repentance,  nor  the  word  of  God,  nor  forgiveness 
can  be  separated  from  baptism.  In  the  case  of  in- 
fants the  vicarious  faith  and  prayers  of  the  parents 
take  the  place  of  the  personal  faith  of  the  child. 

Lutheran  Difficulty  Easily  Understood. 

Now  it  is  easy  to  understand  this  long  contro- 
versy among  the  Lutherans  regarding  infant  bap- 
tism. The  orthodox  doctrine  asserts  and  denies  in 
the  same  breath  respecting  the  same  thing.  Bap- 
tism without  faith  is  nothing  they  assert,  and  at  once 
assert  that  the  baptized  infant  has  no  faith.  By  a 
sort  of  spiritual  fiction  they  assume  that  a  vicarious 
faith  in  the  parents  is  sufficient.  Clear  thinking  in- 
evitably detects  the  radical  departure  in  this  from 

'  "  Gottes  Sohn  und  Gottes  Geist,"  p.  138. 


112  THE   AXIOMS    OF   RELIGION 

the  Reformation  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith 
and  the  direct  relation  of  every  soul  to  God.  In- 
fant baptism  is  irreconcilable  with  the  Reformation. 
And  as  we  have  seen  each  attempt  to  modify  the 
orthodox  Lutheran  doctrine  led  straight  back  to  the 
opus  operatum  of  Roman  Catholicism.  Lutheran- 
ism  then,  attempts  to  maintain  a  dualistic  or  two- 
fold principle  of  salvation  directly  and  radically 
contradictory  of  each  other.  Early  Lutheranism  as- 
serted, as  the  standards  show,  that  faith  was  actually 
wrought  in  infants  in  baptism  while  modern  Luther- 
anism seems  content  with  asserting  only  vicarious 
faith  in  the  parents.  Intermediate  Lutheranism 
dissatisfied  with  both  speaks  with  Calvin  of  a  seed 
or  germ  of  faith  in  baptism.  But  this  latter  is  re- 
jected by  the  orthodox  as  Romanism.  One  party 
rejects  the  orthodox  view  as  meaningless,  and  the 
orthodox  reject  the  rival  view  as  Romish.  The 
conclusion  is  that  there  is  no  satisfactory  explana- 
tion of  infant  baptism  except  on  Roman  Catholic 
grounds,  which  all  evangelicals  of  course  reject  as 
subversive  of  New  Testament  Christianity.  The 
antithesis,  sharp  and  clear,  between  Romanism  and 
the  principle  of  the  Reformation  comes  out  nowhere 
more  distinctly  than  in  this  matter  of  infant  bap- 
tism, and  historic  Lutheranism  furnishes  no  satis- 
factory method  of  explaining  it  or  naturalizing  it  in 
Protestantism.  If  personal  faith  is  the  cardinal 
principle  of  the  Reformation  there  is  no  standing 
room  for  a  rite  which  completely  ignores  it.     To 


THE  RELIGIOUS  AXIOM  II3 

retain  it  is  to  set  up  a  double  principle  of  salvation 
whose  parts  are  gold  and  clay  and  incapable  of 
fusion  or  union  of  any  kind. 

We  seek  in  vain  among  the  great  religious  de- 
nominations which  practise  infant  baptism  for  any 
more  satisfactory  vindication  of  it.  In  the  Church 
of  England  the  High  Church  party  holds  a  doctrine 
practically  identical  with  that  of  Romanism.  In 
baptism  a  germ  of  life  is  implanted  in  the  soul, 
which  may  remain  undeveloped  for  a  long  time, 
but  which  may  in  the  end  be  either  unfolded 
or  destroyed.  This  of  course  is  also  practically 
the  same  as  Calvin's  conception  of  the  germ- 
inal regeneration  and  faith.  Bishop  H.  U.  Onder- 
donk  of  the  American  Church  maintained  the 
doctrine  of  a  twofold  regeneration,  one  in  bap- 
tism which  was  a  new  birth  in  the  sense  that  it 
changes  the  state  or  relation  constituting  us  as  sons 
of  God;  the  other  without  baptism  and  directly 
through  the  Holy  Spirit  giving  to  us  a  new  moral 
nature,  and  thus  constituting  a  new  birth  morally 
and  spiritually.  This  theory  of  Bishop  Onderdonk 
is  simply  one  of  the  possible  logical  devices  for  es- 
caping the  evil  results  of  a  consistent  application  of 
the  principle  of  baptismal  regeneration.  It  is  a 
very  bold  assertion  of  the  duplex  principle  of  sal- 
vation implicit  in  all  Protestant  doctrinal  systems 
which  favor  infant  baptism.  The  sacramental  or 
magical  and  the  moral  and  spiritual  principles  ap- 
pear in  quite  sharp  contrast  in  Onderdonk's  theory. 

H 


14  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 


The  Presbyterian  View. 

We  note  next  the  Presbyterian  view  as  expounded 
by  Dr.  A.  A.  Hodge  in  his  "  Outlines  of  Theology." 
Two  things  are  included  in  every  sacrament,  says 
Doctor  Hodge :  "  First,  an  outward  visible  sign 
used  according  to  Christ's  appointment;  second,  an 
inward  spiritual  grace  thereby  signified."  ^  The 
relation  between  the  sign  and  the  grace  signified  is 
simply  moral,  i.  e.,  it  is  established  only  by  the  au- 
thority of  Christ;  and  it  is  also  real,  so  that  when 
properly  administered  and  "  received  by  the  recip- 
ient with  knowledge  and  faith  they  do  really,  be- 
cause of  the  promise  of  Christ,  seal  the  grace  signi- 
fied and  convey  it  to  the  recipient."  ^  The  grace 
thus  conveyed,  however,  is  due  not  to  the  sacra- 
ments themselves  nor  to  the  administrator,  but  to 
the  Holy  Spirit  who  as  a  free  personal  agent  uses 
them  sovereignly  as  his  instruments.  In  the  case 
of  adults  grace  is  conveyed  only  where  there  is  a 
living  faith.^ 

Doctor  Hodge  expressly  adopts  a  twofold  prin- 
ciple in  the  baptism  of  adults  and  infants.  For 
adults  the  prerequisite  to  baptism  is  a  "  credible  pro- 
fession of  their  faith  in  Jesus  as  their  Saviour."  * 
This  is  a  clear  recognition  of  New  Testament  in- 
dividualism and  of  the  Reformation  doctrine.  It 
accords  with  the  religious  axiom,  that  direct  access 
to  God  through  faith  is  the  soul's  birthright.     But 

'P.  590.  ^V.  592.  8  p.  596.  *P.  616. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  AXIOM  II 5 

Doctor  Hodge  at  once  departs  from  this  principle. 
He  asserts  that  "  the  family  and  not  the  individual 
is  the  unit  embraced  in  all  covenants  and  dispensa- 
tions," and  that  everywhere  "  the  free  will  of  the 
parent  becomes  the  destiny  of  the  child."  ^  He 
then  postulates  a  series  of  principles  nowhere  war- 
ranted in  the  New  Testament,  as  that  the  church 
(of  which  Christ  spoke  in  the  future  tense,  saying, 
"  I  will  build  my  church  ")  already  existed  when 
Christ  came;  that  in  the  absence  of  explicit  com- 
mand the  church  that  was  before  continues  to  be 
the  church  after  Christ;  that  as  the  family  was  the 
unit  under  Judaism  so  it  is  in  Christianity ;  that 
baptism  under  the  new  is  the  same  as  circumcision 
under  the  old  covenant,  a  circumcision  which,  we 
may  remark,  continued  to  be  practised  in  the  New 
Testament  after  baptism  had  been  instituted.  These 
positions  are  well  known  and  have  been  frequently 
answered  most  successfully.  I  do  not  propose  to 
go  over  the  same  ground  here.  I  mention  them  to 
indicate  how  elaborate  the  logical  machinery  is  to 
justify  infant  baptism.  I  remark  simply  that  con- 
sistently carried  out  it  leaves  nothing  distinctive  in 
the  new  covenant  at  all.  It  really  converts  Chris- 
tianity back  again  into  Judaism.  Yet  some  such 
argument  must  be  devised  if  infant  baptism  is  to  be 
supported ;  for  modern  exegesis  has  settled  the 
point  that  there  is  no  explicit  teaching  and  no  New 
Testament  instance  of  the  baptism  of  any  others 

»P.  6i6. 


Il6  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

than  believers.  Inferences  which  are  contrary  to 
a  universal  usage  and  fundamental  law  can  scarcely 
serve  to  justify  infant  baptism. 

Doctor  Hodge,  however,  insists  that  faith  is 
necessary  in  the  baptism  of  infants.  But  it  is  vi- 
carious faith,  a  thing  unknown  to  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  destructive  of  its  teachings.  The  faith  of 
parents  and  the  covenant  with  parents  are  urged 
by  Doctor  Hodge  in  the  case  of  the  baptism  of 
infants.^  The  effect  produced  by  baptism  upon  the 
infant  is  not  very  definitely  set  forth  by  Doctor 
Hodge.  The  infant  is  capable  of  receiving  re- 
generation and  "  of  receiving  from  the  Holy  Ghost 
the  habit  or  state  of  soul  of  which  faith  is  the 
expression."  He  quotes  Calvin  approvingly :  "  The 
seed  of  both  repentance  and  faith  lies  hid  in  them 
by  the  secret  operation  of  the  Spirit."  -  This  will 
be  recalled  by  the  reader  as  the  teaching  of  Calvin 
adopted  by  certain  Lutherans  and  rejected  by  or- 
thodox Lutherans  as  Romish,  as  the  anti-Protes- 
tant opus  operatum,  containing  the  obnoxious  doc- 
trine of  regeneration  without  faith.  It  is  not  for  us 
of  course  to  attempt  to  reconcile  these  contradic- 
tions. Our  sole  purpose  here  is  to  show  that  Pres- 
byterianism,  like  Lutheranism,  and  other  Protestant 
systems,  seeks  to  maintain  a  dualistic  Christianity, 
a  Christianity  rent  and  torn  by  two  irreconcilable 
principles  of  grace  and  salvation. 

^  p.  624. 

«  Hodge,  p.  624;  Calvin's  "  Institutes,"  Bk.  IV,  Chap.  XVI,  Sec.  20. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  AXIOM  II7 


Doctor  Hodge's  Inconsistencies. 

The  contradictions  of  Doctor  Hodge's  position 
appear  at  numerous  points.  We  indicate  a  few : 
For  one  thing  he  insists  upon  baptism  before  and 
baptism  after  faith ;  in  infants  before,  in  adults  after. 
The  New  Testament  will  be  searched  in  vain  for  sup- 
port of  this  teaching.  He  teaches  another  contradic- 
tory in  his  doctrine  of  the  need  of  personal  faith  in 
adults  along  with  the  doctrine  of  vicarious  faith  for 
infants.  On  this  also  the  New  Testament  is  silent. 
Again,  he  admits  infants  to  one  of  the  ordinances, 
baptism,  without  faith,  and  excludes  them  from  the 
other,  the  Supper,  because  they  are  without  it.  The 
vicarious  principle  thus  operates  in  the  case  of  the 
one  ordinance,  but  breaks  down  in  the  case  of  the 
other.  Doctor  Hodge  excludes  infants  from  the 
Lord's  Supper.  There  is  no  logical  ground  for 
baptizing  without  personal  faith  and  then  excluding 
from  the  Supper  for  the  lack  of  it.  To  support  this 
position,  however,  another  contradictory  principle 
is  introduced,  viz.,  that  in  baptism  the  recipient  is 
passive  while  in  the  Supper  he  is  active.  Infants 
cannot  be  spiritually  active,  hence  the  Supper  is 
withheld  from  them.^  But  this  even  does  not  ex- 
haust the  contradictories  in  Doctor  Hodge's  doc- 
trine. For  in  the  same  discussion  he  lays  down  the 
general  principle  that  the  "  conditions  of  admission 
to  the  Lord's  table  are  identical  with  those  requisite 

>p.  624. 


Il8  THE   AXIOMS    OF    RELIGION 

for  baptism."  ^  If  this  be  true  it  is  difficult  to  see 
how  infants  can  be  admitted  to  the  one  and  ex- 
cluded from  the  other.  If  a  passive  state  in  the 
baptism  of  adults  does  not  exclude  them,  why  should 
it  operate  to  exclude  infants?  There  is  not  the 
slightest  warrant  in  the  New  Testament  or  in  the 
nature  of  Christianity  for  the  assertion  that  the  re- 
cipient is  spiritually  passive  in  baptism  and  active 
in  partaking  of  the  Supper.  Faith  is  active  in  both 
ordinances.  Once  more,  Doctor  Hodge's  doctrine 
exhibits  the  irrepressible  conflict  in  this,  that  bap- 
tized infants  are  thus  admitted  to  church-member- 
ship and  then  excluded  from  the  dearest  of  church 
privileges,  partaking  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

Upon  occasion,  indeed.  Doctor  Hodge  reasons 
very  much  like  a  Baptist.  Hear  him :  "  Faith  and 
repentance  are  prerequisites  to  baptism."  "  In 
Christ  Jesus  neither  circumcision  availeth  anything 
nor  uncircumcicision,  but  faith  that  worketh  by  love 
.  .  .  but  a  new  creature."  "  Faith  alone  is  said  to 
save,  the  absence  of  faith  to  damn."  "  The  entire 
spirit  and  method  of  the  gospel  is  ethical,  not  magical. 
The  great  instrument  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  the  truth, 
and  all  that  is  ever  said  of  the  efficacy  of  the  sacra- 
ments is  said  of  the  efficacy  of  the  truth.  They  are 
means  of  grace  therefore  in  common  with  the 
word  and  as  they  contain  and  seal  it."  ^  This  lan- 
guage is  fatal  to  infant  baptism  as  the  reader  has 
already  discerned.     A  religious  rite  applied  where 


THE  RELIGIOUS  AXIOM  II9 

faith  is  not,  where  the  word  of  truth  is  not  grasped, 
is  aHen  to  a  religion  whose  essential  nature  is  thus 
described  by  Doctor  Hodge.  But  how  explain  this 
strong  language  which  is  so  fatal  to  infant  baptism? 
The  explanation  is  that  he  is  there  asserting  the 
essential  nature  of  Christianity  against  the  Roman 
Catholic  doctrine  of  baptismal  regeneration.  Thus 
he  expresses  our  religious  axiom  that  all  souls  have 
an  equal  right  to  direct  access  to  God;  thus  he 
maintains  that  Christianity  is  spiritual  and  personal, 
not  magical  or  sacramental.  Infant  baptism  in  its 
Romish  or  modified  forms  is  radically  at  variance 
with  Christianity.  It  is  alien  and  not  native  to  the 
Christian  soil.  It  has  no  logical  place  in  the  great 
Reformation  movement.  Presbyterianism,  with  its 
great  history,  will  become  far  greater  when  it  sur- 
renders this  alien  element  and  consistently  stands 
for  the  inalienable  rights  of  the  human  spirit  in 
this  as  it  has  done  in  so  many  other  things. 

The  Methodist  Teaching. 

In  the  Methodist  body  also  the  same  contradictory 
views  prevail  as  to  baptism.  The  "  Book  of  Disci- 
pline "  enjoins  upon  pastors  that  they  "  exhort  all 
parents  to  dedicate  their  children  to  the  Lord  in 
baptism  as  early  as  convenient."  ^  Later,  however, 
it  becomes  clear  that  they  are  regarded  as  members 
of  the  church  after  baptism.    The  baptismal  prayer 

'  "  Doctrines  and  Discipline  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
South,"   p.   92. 


120  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

for  the  infant  is  that  God  will  grant  to  the  child 
"  now  to  be  baptized  with  water  that  which  by 
nature  he  cannot  have;  that  he  may  be  baptized 
with  the  Holy  Ghost;  received  into  Christ's  holy 
church,  and  be  made  a  lively  member  of  the  same."  ^ 
Also  the  minister  prays  "  that  he  being  saved  by 
thy  grace,  may  be  received  into  the  ark  of  Christ's 
church."  -  It  thus  appears  that  Methodism  also 
adopts  a  double  standard  of  church-membership,  one 
for  the  non-believing  infant  through  the  vicarious 
faith  of  parents  and  another  for  the  believing  adult. 
It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  Methodists  are 
not  entirely  agreed  among  themselves  as  to  the 
status  of  baptized  infants.  A  body  of  Christian  peo- 
ple with  as  much  spirituality  and  life  as  the  Metho- 
dists possess  was  sure  sooner  or  later  to  have  mis- 
givings regarding  so  incongruous  a  custom  as  the 
baptism  of  infants. 

Congregationalists  also  have  had  their  struggles 
over  this  apparently  insoluble  problem  of  infant 
baptism.  In  Massachusetts  in  colonial  days  the 
baptism  of  the  infant  did  not  entitle  it  to  the  exer- 
cise of  the  franchise  as  was  true  of  those  who  were 
church-members  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word.  The 
"  Half-way  Covenant  "  was  an  expedient  adopted  by 
them  for  settling  the  question  whether  children  of 
parents  who  had  themselves  been  baptized  in  in- 
fancy, but  who  were  not  discharging  their  duty  as 
church-members,  were  entitled  to  the  privilege  of 

'  "  Book  of  Discipline,"  p.  235.  '  P.  235. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  AXIOM  121 

baptism.  The  "  Covenant  "  provided  that  such  par- 
ents could  transmit  to  their  children  the  right  of 
baptism,  with  its  implicit  church-membership  by- 
covenant.  This  "  Half-way  Covenant "  was  never 
universally  indorsed  by  Congregationalists  because 
of  its  illogical  and  inconsistent  position.  In  reality 
under  the  "  Half-way  Covenant "  there  were  four 
sorts  of  qualifications  for  church-membership:  One 
for  the  man  who  obeyed  in  baptism  for  himself  upon 
relation  of  Christian  experience;  another  for  par- 
ents who  were  in  good  standing  in  the  church  and 
for  their  children,  all  of  whom  were  baptized  in  in- 
fancy ;  a  third  for  parents  not  in  fellowship  with  the 
church  although  baptized  in  infancy;  and  a  fourth 
for  the  children  of  this  last  class  of  parents. 

We  will  next  examine  briefly  a  recent  volume  en- 
titled "  Democracy  in  the  Church,"  which  sets  forth 
many  important  considerations  in  favor  of  Congre- 
gationalism. The  author's  utterances  regarding 
infant  baptism  are  very  frank  and  he  faces  the  dif- 
ficulties involved  without  evasion,  although  he  fails 
to  satisfy  the  reader's  mind  as  to  the  legitimacy  of 
that  institution  in  the  Christian  church. 

A  Recent  Congregational  Writer. 

This  Congregational  writer  grants  freely  that  as 
to  the  form  of  baptism,  "  there  has  been  since  the  dis- 
covery of  the  '  Didache  '  a  quite  general  agreement 
among  competent  historians."  ^  "  The  baptism  prac- 

'  E.  L.  Heermancc:  "Democracy  in  The  Church,"  p.  155. 


THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 


tised  by  the  Jews,  by  Christ's  disciples,  by  the  whole 
Christian  Church  for  about  thirteen  hundred  years 
was  baptism  by  immersion."  ^  The  author  is  not 
certain  but  thinks  it  probable  that  infant  baptism 
was  practised  in  the  New  Testament  church.  He 
concludes  with  Professor  Fisher,  however,  that  per- 
haps it  is  best  to  say  that  "  the  baptism  of  infants  is 
neither  explicitly  required  nor  forbidden  in  the  New 
Testament."  -  This,  of  course,  confirms  what  we 
have  already  said  that  modern  exegesis  has  rendered 
its  verdict  in  favor  of  believer's  baptism  by  immer- 
sion. Our  aim  in  this  volume  does  not  include  a 
restatement  of  the  entire  argument  from  exegesis. 
It  can  be  found  in  many  books.  Our  aim  is  to  show 
that  infant  baptism  is  alien  to  the  very  genius  of 
New  Testament  Christianity  and  violates  its  funda- 
mental ideas. 

The  author  of  "  Democracy  in  the  Church  "  says 
that  the  baptism  of  children  among  Congregational- 
ists  "  is  a  custom  more  honored  in  the  breach  than  in 
the  observance.  A  haze  surrounds  the  whole  sub- 
ject as  from  our  past  history  was  perhaps  inevita- 
ble." We  quite  agree  with  him  as  to  the  inevita- 
ble haze  which  surrounds  the  subject.  He  sets  out 
to  restate  the  doctrine  and  theory  of  infant  baptism 
in  order  to  justify  it.  We  condense  his  views.  He 
urges,  as  usual,  the  vicarious  faith  of  parents,  in- 
sisting on  the  necessity  of  faith  to  the  efficacy  of 
baptism.     In  the  case  of  adults  personal   faith  is 

>p.  156.         =p.  157. 


THE  RELIGIOUS  AXIOM  I23 

required.^  But  this  author  departs  from  the  views  of 
Bushnell  and  others  on  the  point  of  infant  church- 
membership.  Baptized  infants  he  says  are  not  mem- 
bers of  the  church  until  they  exercise  personal  faith. 
Here  he  expressly  joins  the  Baptists  in  insisting 
upon  the  voluntariness  of  church-membership.^  He 
distinguishes  between  the  covenant  of  grace  and  the 
church  covenant.  Infant  baptism  takes  place  under 
the  former,  he  thinks ;  voluntary  church-member- 
ship under  the  latter.  New  Testament  warrant  for 
this  is  lacking  of  course.  This  writer's  instinct  for 
the  voluntary  principle  in  religion,  for  the  religious 
axiom,  leads  him  to  assert  that  baptism  may  occur 
twice,  in  unconscious  infancy  and  when  years  of  dis- 
cretion have  been  attained.^  In  many  ways  the 
struggle  of  the  contradictory  conceptions  of  Chris- 
tianity manifests  itself  in  this  work  with  a  decided 
tendency  to  surrender  sacramentalism  and  the  in- 
direct for  the  spiritual,  voluntary,  and  direct  ap- 
proach of  the  soul  to  God. 

The  Early  Congregational  Struggle. 

In  colonial  days,  as  is  well  known,  the  Congrega- 
tionalists  had  a  serious  and  protracted  struggle  over 
the  question  of  the  status  of  infants  in  the  church. 
Were  those  baptized  in  infancy  members  of  the 
church  or  not?  The  Congregationalists  were  di- 
vided on  the  subject,  and  neither  the  "  Cambridge 
Platform  "  nor  the  "  Half-way  Covenant  "  cleared 

'Pp.  159,  163.         «p.  166.         »p.  168. 


124  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

the  matter  up  in  any  satisfactory  manner.  There  is 
no  possible  mode  of  conceiving  or  defining  the 
church  which  shall  include  infants  and  adults  with- 
out introducing  fundamentally  contradictory  views. 
A  church  thus  inclusive  of  both  would  embrace  in 
its  membership  conscious  and  unconscious  members ; 
believing  and  unbelieving;  those  who  came  by  vi- 
carious and  those  who  enter  by  personal  faith  ;  those 
who  come  to  Christ  directly  and  those  who  come  in- 
directly ;  those  who  are  spiritually  passive  and  those 
who  are  spiritually  active;  those  entitled  to  com- 
mune and  those  who,  without  personal  sinful  acts, 
are  disqualified  for  communion.  To  adopt  the  view 
of  the  author  of  "  Democracy  in  the  Church  "  in- 
volves a  double  Christianity  at  every  point  when  bap- 
tism is  in  question.  Baptism  in  order  to  church- 
membership  for  believing  adults,  baptism  without 
church-mem,bership  for  unbelieving  infants;  bap- 
tism without  faith  and  baptism  with  faith ;  and  in 
some  cases  two  baptisms,  the  first  without,  the 
second  with  faith. 

We  must  bring  this  long  chapter  to  a  close.  We 
have  made  good  our  plea.  Infant  baptism  has  no 
place  in  New  Testament  Christianity  and  no  logical 
place  in  the  churches  of  Protestantism.  In  such 
churches  it  involves  the  presence  of  contradictory 
and  radically  inconsistent  views  of  religion,  one  a 
spiritual  fiction  the  other  a  spiritual  reality.  It 
makes  current  in  the  religious  world  spiritual  coins 
of  co-ordinate  value  bearing  the  same  stamp  and 


THE  RELIGIOUS  AXIOM  I25 

passing  for  the  same  ends,  one  of  which  is  pure  gold 
and  the  other  an  alloy  which  under  any  just  stand- 
ard of  spiritual  values  would  have  to  be  rejected  as 
counterfeit.  Such  contradictories  in  religion  inevi- 
tably lead  to  one  of  two  results :  The  base  and  the 
genuine  metal  come  to  be  regarded  as  equivalent  to 
each  other ;  or  they  both  become  equivocal  in  mean- 
ing and  value.  The  rule  is  for  the  higher  value  to 
become  obscured  or  set  aside  and  the  lower  to  flood 
the  market,  as  in  the  commercial  world.  Of  one 
thing  we  may  be  sure,  whatever  may  be  true  in  the 
fiscal  world,  the  kingdom  of  God  cannot  perma- 
nently endure  a  spiritual  bimetallism. 

The  plea  that  infant  baptism  is  necessary  to 
Christian  nurture  assumes  falsely  that  any  real 
element  of  parental  duty  or  Christian  nurture  is 
impossible  without  it.  Every  parental  duty  in  the 
matter  of  religious  teaching  and  training  is  possible 
without  the  use  of  a  rite  which  anticipates  and  fore- 
stalls personal  action,  robs  the  child  of  the  joy  of 
conscious  obedience  to  Christ  in  his  own  appointed 
ordinance ;  in  short  which  does  despite  and  violence 
to  individuality  and  personality,  the  choicest  gift  of 
God  to  our  children,  and  that  which  we  should 
above  all  things  protect  and  conserve.  No  one  can 
join  the  church  for  another;  no  one  can  perform 
any  act  of  personal  religious  duty  for  another ;  no 
one  can  without  usurpation  choose  for  another  in 
religion.  If  the  principle  of  vicarious  faith  and 
obedience  is  valid   in  the  case  of  infant  baptism 


126  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

there  is  no  reason  why  it  may  not  be  applied  in  every 
part  of  the  Christian  Hfe.  Heredity  and  Christian 
nurture  are  one  thing.  They  are  the  law  of  God 
for  man.  But  neither  heredity  nor  Christian  nur- 
ture admits  vicarious  choices  in  religion.  Even 
God's  elective  decree  never  executes  itself  in  the 
soul  apart  from  a  persuaded  will  which  chooses  for 
itself  so  far  as  we  have  explicit  teaching  on  the  sub- 
ject. Yet  parents  and  sponsors  elect  and  decree  and 
perform  for  their  children  in  the  matter  of  infant 
baptism,  where  there  is  no  slightest  response  of  the 
will,  and  thus  do  despite  unto  God's  grace  as  re- 
vealed in  Christ  and  contaminate  the  fountainhead 
of  Christian  truth. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  ECCLESIASTICAL  AXIOM  :  ALL  BELIEVERS  HAVE  A 
RIGHT  TO  EQUAL  PRIVILEGES  IN  THE  CHURCH 

I.  A  few  words  in  explanation  of  the  terms  of  this 
axiom  will  be  sufficient.  Equality  of  privilege  in  the 
church  of  course  has  no  reference  to  the  mental  and 
spiritual  capacities  of  men.  No  one  regards  all 
men  as  possessing  equal  natural  ability  or  learn- 
ing. Nor  does  the  axiom  assume  that  one  man  is  as 
well  fitted  as  another  for  official  position  in  the 
church.  Diversities  of  gifts  and  offices  and  ad- 
ministrations are  clearly  recognized  in  the  New 
Testament  churches  and  as  clearly  set  forth  for 
our  guidance. 

The  Ecclesiastical  and  Religious  Axioms. 

The  ecclesiastical  is  best  explained  by  the  religious 
axiom.  It  is  because  men  have  an  equal  right  to 
direct  access  to  God  that  they  are  entitled  to  equal 
privileges  in  the  church.  Equality  before  God  makes 
men  equal  in  their  ecclesiastical  standing.  The 
church  is  a  brotherhood  because  it  is  a  family  of 
which  God  is  the  father  and  in  which  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  elder  brother.  There  is,  with  respect  to  the 
members  of  the  church,  no  law  of  ecclesiastical  pri- 
mogeniture by  which  favored  sons  receive  special 

127 


128  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

and  disproportionate  parts  of  the  Father's  inherit- 
ance, and  no  law  of  hereditary  lordship  by  which 
spiritual  dynasties  are  established  through  imposi- 
tion of  hands  or  otherwise.  The  methods  of  the 
church  are  those  of  a  spiritual  brotherhood  of  equals. 
Personal  adjustment  of  offenses,  not  judicial  de- 
cisions, is  Christ's  preferred  way  in  all  private  griev- 
ances and  nowhere  does  he  establish  a  court  other 
than  the  local  congregation.  Apostles  even,  who 
were  especially  inspired  for  their  tasks,  exerted 
their  authority  not  as  lords  of  the  conscience  but 
as  brothers. 

The  nature  of  Christ's  church  is  determined  by 
the  twofold  relationship  of  the  believer,  one  to 
Christ  himself,  the  other  to  the  brethren.  Christ  is 
Lord.  The  believer  in  Christ  belongs  to  an  absolute 
monarchy,  the  most  absolute  indeed  the  world  ever 
knew.  But  the  monarch  is  in  heaven  and  relates 
himself  to  his  subjects  through  his  revealed  word 
and  through  his  Spirit.  The  subject  has  fellowship 
directly  with  the  monarch.  All  his  dealings  with 
his  subjects  are  individual.  He  delegates  his  au- 
thority to  none.  But  the  first  and  finest  expression 
of  Christ's  lordship  over  the  individual  believer  is 
in  the  gift  of  autonomy  to  him.  Christ  discovers 
each  man  to  himself  and  starts  him  on  an  autono- 
mous career,  but  never  for  a  moment  does  he  relax 
his  grasp  upon  that  man's  conscience  or  life.  Yet 
nothing  thrills  men  into  such  a  sense  of  freedom 
and  power. 


THE    ECCLESIASTICAL    AXIOM  I29 

The  above  is  a  paradox :  The  lordship  of  Christ 
and  the  autonomy  of  the  soul.  Against  such  a  soul 
there  is  no  law,  as  Paul  declares.  It  incarnates  the 
law  of  Christ.  But  the  paradox  of  the  individual 
and  Christ  involves  a  paradox  of  the  spiritual  society 
and  Christ.  Because  the  individual  deals  directly 
with  his  Lord  and  is  immediately  responsible  to  him, 
the  spiritual  society  must  needs  be  a  democracy. 
That  is,  the  church  is  a  community  of  autonomous 
individuals  under  the  immediate  lordship  of  Christ 
held  together  by  a  social  bond  of  common  interest, 
due  to  a  common  faith  and  inspired  by  common 
tasks  and  ends,  all  of  which  are  assigned  to  him  by 
the  common  Lord.  The  church,  therefore,  is  the 
expression  of  the  paradoxical  conception  of  the 
union  of  absolute  monarchy  and  pure  democracy. 
This  we  might  say  is  the  formula  of  the  church. 
Every  form  of  polity  other  than  democracy  some- 
where infringes  upon  the  lordship  of  Christ.  I 
mean  direct  lordship.  There  is  no  indirect  lordship 
known  to  the  New  Testament.  An  ecclesiastical 
monarchy  with  a  human  head,  like  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  radically  alters  the  very  nature  of 
Christianity.  Baptist  Congregationalism  is  the  exact 
antithesis  of  the  Romish  hierarchy.  Modified 
ecclesiastical  monarchies,  or  aristocracies,  or  oli- 
garchies, are  less  objectionable  but  they  too  violate 
one  or  the  other  of  the  organic  laws  of  the  church, 
the  direct  lordship  of  Christ,  or  the  equality  of  all 
believers  in  spiritual  privilege. 
I 


130  the  axioms  of  religion 

The  Human  Body  and  the  Church. 

The  favorite  New  Testament  figure  to  set  forth 
Christ's  relations  to  the  church  is  that  of  the  human 
body  of  which  Christ  is  the  head.  The  church- 
members  are  the  members  of  the  body  of  Christ. 
Repeatedly  this  image  is  employed,  especially  by 
Paul.  The  blood  flows  directly  from  head  to  mem- 
bers. The  will  issues  its  mandates  directly  to  the 
members  of  the  body,  and  they  respond.  Church- 
members  are  members  one  of  another  and  also  of 
Christ.  Thus  in  the  figure  of  the  body  we  have  a 
striking  exposition  of  the  twofold  relationship  of 
the  believer  which  determines  the  nature  of  the 
church,  viz. :  A  direct  relation  to  the  head  and  a 
relation  of  equality  to  other  members  of  the  body. 

Now,  it  is  because  of  this  twofold  relationship, 
this  union  of  absolute  monarchy  and  pure  de- 
mocracy in  the  church,  that  analogies  to  human 
government  cannot  hold  in  fixing  a  church  polity. 
No  such  relationships  exist  in  human  government. 
All,  or  nearly  all,  human  governments  are  indirect. 

The  town  meeting  is  an  example  of  pure  de- 
mocracy, but  in  extending  human  government  over 
large  areas  the  central  authority  must  be  localized. 
It  cannot  act  everywhere  and  immediately  upon 
its  citizens  or  subjects.  Moreover,  legislation  on 
matters  of  general  interest  must  be  through  dele- 
gated powers,  for  the  reason  that  the  total  citizen- 
ship cannot  assemble,  unite,  and  deliberate  for  this 


THE    ECCLESIASTICAL    AXIOM  I3I 

purpose.  Centralized  authority  is  also  necessary 
in  the  State  for  the  exercise  of  force,  a  function 
always  improper  for  the  Church.  On  the  contrary 
the  central  authority  in  Christianity  cannot  be  local- 
ized. Christ  said  it  was  expedient  that  he  go  away 
in  order  that  the  Holy  Spirit  might  come.  Thus 
he  "  exchanged  his  presence  for  his  omnipresence." 
It  might  be  a  logical  procedure  for  a  given  com- 
munity owning  a  large  body  of  real  estate  in  com- 
mon to  delegate  the  control  of  its  mines  and  the 
distribution  of  the  coal  to  a  commission.  The 
nature  of  the  case  would  require  some  such  admin- 
istration perhaps.  But  it  would  be  absurd  to  ap- 
point a  commission  to  control  and  distribute  the 
sunlight.  In  this  respect  the  inhabitants  would  only 
need  to  keep  out  of  each  other's  light.  Every  man 
would  simply  have  to  avoid  building  his  house  or 
ordering  his  life  so  as  to  obscure  the  sun  from  his 
brother.  As  the  Baptist  sees  it,  papacies  and  episco- 
pacies are  commissions  to  control  the  sunshine. 

Legislation  not  Needed  in  the  Church. 

We  may  now  add  that  legislation  is  not  needed. 
The  Scriptures  are  the  rule  of  faith  and  practice 
and  the  omnipresent  Spirit  the  interpreter.  Repub- 
licanism, therefore,  or  representative  government, 
or  indirect  democracy,  cannot  take  the  place  of 
the  pure  democracy  and  the  absolute  monarchy  of 
the  New  Testament  church. 

We  conclude  therefore  that  pure  democracy  in 


132  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

church  polity  is  the  only  institutional  expression — 
the  only  expression  in  the  form  of  church  organiza- 
tion— of  our  two  axioms,  the  religious,  or  the  soul's 
right  to  direct  dealing  with  God,  and  the  ecclesi- 
astical, or  the  equality  of  believers  in  spiritual  privi- 
lege in  the  church.  It  thus  appears  that  the  ques- 
tion of  church  polity  is  more  than  a  question  of  a 
few  detached  proof-texts  from  the  New  Testament. 
The  question  of  the  constitution  of  the  church  enters 
vitally  into  the  question  of  the  constitution  of  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

2.  Our  position  will  become  even  more  abundantly 
clear  if  we  now  institute  a  contrast  between  the 
two  methods  by  which  church  polities  have  been  de- 
veloped, or  the  laws  by  which  their  forms  have  been 
determined.  These  we  will  call  on  the  one  hand  the 
spiritual  and  on  the  other  the  temporal.  This  con- 
trast will  exhibit  to  us  the  very  suggestive  fact  that 
two  environments  have  operated  upon  the  churches 
in  ecclesiastical  history,  and  that  each  environment 
operates  in  a  way  of  its  own  and  with  results 
corresponding. 

The  first  line  of  development  is  the  spiritual. 
This  we  find  in  the  New  Testament.  Baptists  some- 
times define  a  church  as  "  a  voluntary  association 
of  believers  united  together  for  the  purpose  of 
worship  and  edification."  Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon  has 
criticized  this  definition.  "  It  is  no  more  true," 
he  says,  "  than  that  hands  and  feet  and  eyes  and 
ears  are  voluntarily  united  in  the  human  body  for  the 


THE    ECCLESIASTICAL    AXIOM  1 33 

purposes  of  locomotion  and  work."  Doctor  Gor- 
don's emphasis  is  upon  the  sovereign  agency  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  creating  the  church.^ 

Now  as  a  matter  of  fact  both  the  definition  and 
Doctor  Gordon's  criticism  are  correct  and  valid,  be- 
cause each  supplies  a  needed  element.  The  volun- 
tary principle  enters  essentially  into  the  constitution 
of  a  church.  But  prior  to  human  choice  in  the 
matter  was  the  initiative  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The 
spiritual  environment  from  above  acted  upon  men. 
They  were  regenerated.  Their  renewed  spiritual 
natures  then  impelled  them  to  associate  themselves 
together  as  a  church.  The  religious  and  ecclesiastical 
axioms  both  came  into  play;  a  direct  relation  to  God 
first,  then  a  voluntary  association  on  terms  of 
equality. 

Church  Organization  from  Within. 

This  was  precisely  the  way  in  which  the  New 
Testament  churches  arose.  First  came  Christ's  call 
and  the  response  of  the  individual.  Then  came  a 
group  of  individuals  attached  to  his  person.  When 
the  Spirit  came  at  Pentecost  after  Christ's  departure 
to  the  Father  the  process  indicated  in  Doctor  Gor- 
don's criticism  of  the  current  definition  of  a  church 
began,  under  the  leadership  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Individuals  were  drawn  together.  The  indwelling 
Spirit  began  to  organize  the  membership  of  Christ's 
body  into  his  church. 

'A.  J.  Gordon:  "The  Ministry  of  the  Spirit,"  pp.  53,  54. 


134  THE  AXIOMS   OF  RELIGION 

I  am  not  here  concerned  to  cite  the  texts  which 
prove  that  the  New  Testament  churches  were  de- 
mocracies. It  may  be  fairly  claimed  by  the  advo- 
cates of  a  congregational  polity  that  scholarship 
has  decided  in  their  favor.  There  was  neither 
priest  nor  bishop  in  the  medieval  and  modern  sense 
of  the  word  in  the  New  Testament  churches.  These 
were  pure  democracies.  But  what  I  am  concerned 
in  particular  to  show  is  that  democracy  alone  ac- 
cords with  the  nature  of  the  kingdom  of  God;  that 
the  direct  relations  of  men  to  God  and  their  equality 
as  brethren  require  a  democratic  church  polity.  No 
other  polity  leaves  the  soul  free. 

This  last  statement  is  susceptible  of  historical 
proof.  Whenever  men  are  acted  upon  directly  by 
the  spiritual  environment  they  tend  to  the  free  and 
self-governing  congregation,  and  when  untram- 
meled  by  external  bonds  they  always  adopt  it.  The 
reader  will  recall  the  many  sects  of  Christian  history 
whose  oflfense  was  the  freedom  of  the  Spirit.  The 
Donatists  were  suppressed  in  the  early  centuries 
because  they  insisted  upon  prophesying.  This  meant 
that  they  asserted  their  direct  relation  to  Christ 
through  the  Spirit  as  against  the  indirect  relation 
through  the  priesthood.  So  with  many  other  sects 
which  the  Roman  Church  sought  to  suppress. 

Monasticism  illustrates  the  same  principle.  At 
its  outset  monasticism  was  the  revolt  of  the  soul 
against  the  tyranny  of  external  authority  and  an 
effort    to    come    into    direct    relations    with    God. 


THE    ECCLESIASTICAL    AXIOM  I35 

Readers  of  church  history  will  recall  at  once  the 
struggle  between  the  bishops  and  the  monasteries. 
The  latter  were  little  self-governing  communities 
which  were  intensely  jealous  of  their  spiritual  free- 
dom, and  for  a  long  time  they  maintained  that  free- 
dom within  the  limits  of  a  general  subordination  to 
the  pope  at  Rome.  This  was  not  ideal  but  it  illus- 
trates the  truth  we  maintain  that  democracy  is  the 
law  of  church  organization  whenever  and  wherever 
the  soul  enjoys  its  spiritual  right  of  direct  access  to 
God.  The  effort  of  the  Romish  hierarchy  to  sup- 
press this  spontaneous  and  beautiful  life  of  the 
Spirit,  by  imposing  its  iron  authority  instead,  was 
very  unwise.  It  was  the  church  authorities  laying 
waste  their  own  vineyard.  It  reminds  us  of  the 
ignorant  Indian  soldier  who  found  a  leathern  pouch 
containing  pearls.  Not  knowing  the  value  of  pearls 
he  threw  these  away  but  kept  the  pouch  as  a  con- 
venient receptacle  for  his  tobacco. 

Puritanism  Perpetuates  Monasticism. 

Puritanism  in  England  was,  according  to  Prof. 
A.  V.  G.  Allen,  the  continuance  of  monasticism  in 
its  essential  principle.  Professor  Allen  maintains 
that  the  various  Nonconformist  churches  in  Eng- 
land to-day  are  modern  equivalents  of  monasticism 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  in  that  they  stand  for  individ- 
ualism, for  soul  freedom,  for  the  spiritual  and 
direct  relation  of  the  soul  to  God  as  against  the 
ecclesiastical  lordship  of  the  Established  Church. 


136  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

Another  interesting  illustration  of  the  same  law  of 
ecclesiastical  democracy  in  response  to  spiritual  im- 
pulse and  environment  is  seen  in  the  rise  of  Baptist 
churches  where  men  have  only  the  New  Testament 
for  guidance.  A  striking  instance  was  that  of 
Oncken  and  his  friends  in  1834  in  Hamburg,  Ger- 
many. Coming  into  the  new  life  in  Christ  they 
were  without  ecclesiastical  guides.  They  shut  them- 
selves up  to  a  study  of  the  New  Testament.  A 
Baptist  church  resulted  and  to  this  single  congrega- 
tion the  Baptists  of  Germany  in  large  part  trace 
their  origin.  Baron  Uixkull  of  Russia,  who  has  re- 
cently visited  America  in  the  interest  of  the  Russian 
Baptists  relates  a  similar  story  of  the  origin  of  the 
Baptists  within  the  Czar's  dominions.  Lutheran 
missionaries  came  and  preached  and  left  Bibles  and 
then  departed.  With  no  guide  but  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  the  New  Testament  the  flourishing  Baptist 
movement  began  in  Russia.  The  Baptists  of  Russia 
now  number  many  thousands  and  are  growing  rap- 
idly. Other  instances  of  the  same  principle  are 
numerous  in  modern  Baptist  history.  In  Mexico 
and  Brazil  and  elsewhere  Baptist  churches  have 
sprung  spontaneously  into  being,  so  to  speak,  as  a 
result  of  the  simple  study  of  the  New  Testament 
under  the  sole  tutelage  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Church  Organization  from  Without. 

If  now  we  look  at  the  various  modifications  of 
church  polity  throughout  Christian  history  we  find 


THE    ECCLESIASTICAL    AXIOM  I37 

that  another  environment  and  another  group  of 
forces  were  at  work.  Thus  modifications  through 
the  temporal  as  contrasted  with  the  spiritual  envi- 
ronment took  place.  We  can  of  course  only  look  at 
this  development  within  present  limits  in  a  most 
general  way.  Yet  this  will  suffice  to  make  clear  the 
point. 

The  preeminence  of  the  Roman  See  came  about 
as  a  result  of  the  operation  of  many  forces.  Geo- 
graphical location  at  the  world's  capital  was  no  small 
factor.  The  tradition  of  a  visit  by  the  Apostle 
Peter  to  Rome  assisted.  The  need  for  a  central  and 
powerful  machinery  for  the  suppression  of  heresy 
co-operated.  When  the  empire  was  destroyed  the 
need  for  a  strong  temporal  head  offered  the  bishop 
of  Rome  an  opportunity.  We  have  already  in  a 
previous  chapter  pointed  out  how  the  sacerdotal 
and  sacramental  idea  arose  in  large  part  from 
heathenism.  The  factors  were  nearly  all  temporal. 
It  is  easily  seen  that  they  reversed  the  principle  of 
church  organization.  That  principle  was  no  longer 
inward,  the  Spirit  forming  for  itself  a  body  in  ac- 
cordance with  its  nature,  but  outward.  The  tem- 
poral and  political  environment  imposed  its  laws 
upon  a  spiritual  body.  Thus  the  church  ceased  to 
be  an  organism  and  became  a  mechanism.  It  was 
a  contrivance  for  achieving  temporal  ends  rather 
than  a  spiritual  body  adapted  to  the  ends  of  a  life- 
giving  Spirit.  Hitherto  the  church  had  been  a  tree 
of  life,  full  of  sap  and  power  and  yielding  abundant 


138  THE   AXIOMS    OF   RELIGION 

fruit  for  mankind.  Now  the  tree  was  cut  down  and 
fashioned  into  a  battering  ram  for  warhke  purposes. 
Battering  rams  are  useful  in  their  time  and  for  the 
purposes  for  which  they  are  built,  but  they  have  no 
roots  and  bear  no  fruit. 

The  Reformation  did  not  cure  this  evil.  Both 
Calvin  and  Luther  resorted  to  the  temporal  environ- 
ment for  aid  in  the  creation  of  the  new  churches. 
Calvin's  community  became  a  theocracy.  Luther 
turned  over  the  government  of  the  church  to  the 
temporal  power,  and  this  in  turn  placed  it  in  the 
hands,  not  of  a  hierarchy  indeed,  but  of  a  consistory 
made  up  from  the  clergy.  Luther  admitted  that 
the  real  church  and  real  authority  is  the  local  con- 
gregation. Indeed  the  seventh  article  of  the  Augs- 
burg Confession  defines  the  church  thus.  But 
Luther  said  in  his  characteristic  fashion  that  the 
"  wild  Germans  "  were  not  yet  ready  for  Congre- 
gationalism. 

In  England  the  king  had  always  been  prominent 
in  church  afifairs  from  the  earliest  days.  Even 
Wycliffe  championed  the  prerogative  of  the  king 
in  the  church.  This  helps  to  explain  the  tenacity 
with  which  English  thinkers  have  prosecuted  the 
attempt  to  justify  a  religious  establishment  on 
theoretical  grounds.  Hooker's  was  one  of  the  most 
forcible  and  impressive  of  these  eflforts.  It  asserted 
that  Church  and  State  were  one  society.  There 
follows  a  long  list  of  theorists  and  theories,  includ- 
ing  Coleridge,   Chalmers   of   Scotland,    Gladstone, 


THE    ECCLESIASTICAL    AXIOM  I39 


Macaulay,  and  others.  These  need  not  be  dwelt 
upon  here  further  than  to  indicate  how  church  polity 
was  being  determined  not  on  grounds  deduced  from 
its  own  nature,  but  on  those  drawn  from  the  tem- 
poral environment. 

Opportunism  in  Control. 

There  was  indeed  a  sort  of  opportunism  which 
seemed  to  control  in  the  formation  of  the  many 
polities  which  took  their  rise  after  the  Reformation. 
The  point  of  view  and  the  exigencies  of  the  hour 
nearly  always  determined  which  side  of  the  scales 
would  go  down.  Romanism  even  in  the  earlier  ages 
asserted  the  Church's  independence  of  the  State  when 
it  was  in  danger  of  becoming  subject  to  the  temporal 
power.  It  reversed  this  position  when  under  Hilde- 
brand  and  his  successors  the  Church  gained  the 
ascendency  over  the  State.  In  the  sixteenth  century 
the  Jesuits  taught  that  in  the  State  the  power  all  be- 
longed originally  to  the  people;  thus,  as  Doctor 
Fisher  remarks,  anticipating  the  democratic  ideas  of 
Rousseau  and  Jeflferson.  Their  aim  was  to  weaken 
the  power  of  the  king.  They  still  held  to  an  opposite 
theory  as  to  the  church,  that  is,  the  spiritual  des- 
potism of  the  pope. 

In  England  in  the  sixteenth  century  the  Anglicans 
denied  and  the  Puritans  affirmed  the  divine  origin 
of  church  polity.  In  the  seventeenth  century  the 
positions  were  reversed,  the  Anglicans  affirming 
and  the  Puritans  tending  more  and  more  to  deny 


140  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

New  Testament  warrant  for  a  fixed  polity.^  Presby- 
terians and  Congregationalists  in  America  to-day  are 
firm  believers  in  separation  of  Church  and  State. 
But  it  is  well  known  that  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay 
Colony  a  theocracy  was  set  up  in  which  civic  privi- 
leges were  limited  to  church-members.  The  history 
of  Presbyterianism  in  England  and  Scotland  makes 
it  clear  that  originally  in  this  body  there  was  no 
inherent  principle  forbidding  a  union  of  Church 
and  State.  Chalmers,  indeed,  formally  promulgated 
the  view  that  the  State  should  adopt  and  maintain 
some  one  form  of  Christianity.  Methodism  in  like 
manner  in  its  earlier  history  was  identified  with  the 
fortunes  of  the  Church  of  England  and  in  the 
struggle  for  religious  freedom  in  Virginia  cast  the 
weight  of  its  influence  in  the  scale  with  the  estab- 
lished church. 

Lessons  from  the  Past. 

The  above  sketch  is  not  given  merely  to  recall 
outgrown  conceptions  of  the  church,  nor  to  question 
the  wisdom  and  greatness  of  the  men  who  founded 
the  great  denominations  referred  to;  nor  am  I 
blind  to  the  difficulties  they  had  to  encounter.  I 
rejoice  in  their  mighty  influence  for  good  and  in 
the  power  of  those  forms  of  organized  Christianity 
which  they  have  left.  It  is  proper,  however,  to 
gather  gems  of  wisdom  amid  the  ruins  of  the  past, 
and  to  observe  what  flowers  of  truth  blossom  by 

^  A.  V.  G.  Allen:    "Christian  Institutions,"  p.  13. 


THE    ECCLESIASTICAL    AXIOM  I4I 


the  wayside  of  a  pathway  untraveled  by  pilgrims  of 
to-day.  It  is  entirely  clear  from  the  foregoing  that 
in  a  very  large  part  of  modern  Christendom  the 
polities  which  survive  are  the  result  of  the  operation 
in  very  large  measure  of  the  temporal  rather  than 
the  spiritual  environment  upon  the  church  life  and 
growth.  The  spiritual  method  may  be  likened  to 
the  action  of  a  flame  which  played  upon  the  material 
until  its  nature  was  changed  and  it  was  shaped  into 
a  new  unity.  The  temporal  was  like  the  action  of  a 
mold  which  received  the  material  unchanged  and 
impressed  upon  it  externally  its  own  form. 

I  shall  probably  be  met  at  this  point  by  an  objec- 
tion. Some  one  may  say,  "  You  ignore  the  principle 
of  development  in  Christianity ;  you  are  right  in 
asserting  that  the  earliest  form  of  Christianity  was 
democratic,  but  you  forget  that  the  pure  democracies 
of  the  New  Testament  were  necessarily  subject  to 
modification  by  changing  circumstances.  You  must 
allow  room  for  church  organization  to  take  the  form 
demanded  by  changing  conditions  from  age  to  age." 
To  which  we  reply:  There  is  no  evidence  of  any 
such  principle  of  development  in  the  New  Testament 
itself.  The  objection  is  based  upon  an  inference  not 
from  the  principles  of  the  New  Testament  but  from 
the  course  of  events. 

The  Test  of  Development. 

It  is  not  difficult,  however,  to  test  any  theory 
of  development.    Ecclesiastical  development  is  per- 


142  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 


missible  within  the  Hmits  of  the  religious  and  ecclesi- 
astical axioms.  So  soon  as  development  carries  the 
church  beyond  the  boundaries  of  free  and  direct 
intercourse  with  God — beyond  the  limits  of  equality 
and  brotherhood — it  becomes  subversive  of  the  fun- 
damental principles  of  the  kingdom  of  God.  This 
comes  to  light  in  a  striking  manner  in  J.  H.  New- 
man's theory  of  development,  outlined  in  a  previous 
chapter.  Newman's  quest  was  for  a  religious 
authority.  He  rejected  conscience  which  might 
serve  a  natural  but  not  a  revealed  religion;  he  re- 
jected the  Church  of  England  as  having  no  unity  of 
expression  and  no  central  organ  of  authority.  He 
rejected  the  Scriptures  because  they  required  an 
interpreter.  He  found  his  authority  in  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  with  its  authoritative  head  in  Rome. 
He  became  a  Catholic.  His  doctrine  of  develop- 
ment was  the  logical  attempt  to  vindicate  his  action. 
Of  course  all  Protestants  reject  the  papacy  as  the 
vicegerent  of  Christ.  They  look  to  Christ  himself 
as  the  supreme  authority  in  religion. 

Now  every  doctrine  of  development  which  passes 
beyond  democracy  and  autonomy  in  the  church  re- 
peats Newman's  mistake  in  greater  or  less  degree, 
because  it  localizes  authority  somewhere  outside  of 
Christ.  It  may  be  in  a  bench  of  bishops  or  in  a 
synod  or  general  assembly,  but  in  any  case  it  makes 
the  soul  responsible  to  Christ  through  other  men 
and  not  directly.  It  cuts  off  the  direct  access  of  men 
to  God  in  all  matters  delegated  to  a  human  authority. 


THE    ECCLESIASTICAL    AXIOM  I43 


We  remark  further  that  the  "  developed  "  polities 
which  incorporate  in  any  degree  the  principle  of 
authority  of  the  indirect  kind  are  all  needless  in  the 
Christian  programme.  There  is  no  room  for  human 
legislation  of  the  authoritative  kind  in  Christianity. 
What  about  creed-making?  Creeds  are  useful  as 
interpretations  of  Scripture  at  any  particular  period 
but  so  soon  as  they  become  binding  they  become 
divisive.  The  Scriptures  are  the  guide  of  the  church 
under  Christ's  Spirit.  Laws  of  any  kind — those 
which  affect  the  faith  or  the  life — inevitably  lead 
to  mischief  in  the  church.  The  reason  is  that  they 
introduce  a  double  principle  of  authority — that  of 
Christ  and  that  of  ecclesiastical  superiors. 

Judicial  Functions  and  the  Local 
Congregation. 

There  is  likewise  no  place  for  any  judicial  func- 
tions apart  from  the  local  congregation.  In  the  local 
congregation  it  is  not  so  much  a  legal  and  judicial 
procedure  as  it  is  a  life  process,  the  healthy  organ- 
ism sloughing  off  unsound  parts.  All  high  ecclesias- 
tical courts  for  the  trial  of  heretics  bring  scandal 
and  confusion  and  schism  to  the  church  of  Christ. 
In  fact  the  only  aspect  of  the  organization  of  Chris- 
tianity which  requires  or  admits  development  is  the 
administrative.  In  this  particular  New  Testament 
Christianity  is  susceptible  of  indefinite  development, 
without  doing  any  violence  to  the  Christian  principle 
of  authority. 


144  THE   AXIOMS   OF    RELIGION 

3.  The  question  may  be  asked  whether  democracy 
as  the  form  of  church  polity  would  have  been  ade- 
quate to  the  task  of  the  past  centuries,  whether  it 
could  have  preserved  Christianity  in  the  long  night 
of  the  Dark  Ages.  Usually  a  negative  answer  is 
given.  The  question  is,  of  course,  in  large  part 
speculative  and  no  certain  conclusion  is  possible. 
But  something  may  be  said.  If  infant  baptism  and 
sacramentalism  had  been  kept  out  of  the  church  and 
the  doctrine  of  a  regenerate  membership  maintained 
steadfastly,  the  occasion  for  centralized  ecclesiastical 
authority  need  not  have  arisen.  If  the  gipsy  moth 
had  never  been  brought  across  the  sea  and  intro- 
duced into  New  England,  the  authorities  of  Massa- 
chusetts would  not  have  been  called  upon  to  organ- 
ize a  campaign  for  the  protection  of  the  trees. 
When  the  tide  of  the  unregenerated  began  to  flow 
into  the  church  through  infant  baptism,  the  gipsy 
moth  of  medieval  Christianity,  then  the  secular  ideal 
and  method  became  necessary  for  government.  The 
papacy  was  the  result.  Of  course  the  direct  spiritual 
authority  of  Christ  could  not  be  exerted  over  men 
whose  loyalty  to  his  religion  was  merely  external 
and  formal.  Loring  Brace,  as  we  shall  see  in  a  later 
chapter,  has  declared  that  the  most  unfortunate 
thing  for  early  Christianity  was  the  loss  of  the 
simple  democratic  polity  of  the  New  Testament. 
For  when  this  occurred  and  religion  took  the  form 
of  an  establishment  supported  by  the  State,  Christi- 
anity ceased  to  be  a  leaven  of  spirituality  and  right- 


THE    ECCLESIASTICAL    AXIOM  I45 

eousness  permeating  society  everywhere,  and  became 
instead  a  political  force  operating  after  the  manner 
and  with  the  ends  of  such  a  force.  In  fact  we  may 
say  that  from  Constantine  onward  the  destiny  of 
Christianity  was  guided  by  a  new  law.  The  State 
and  Church  like  Diomed  and  Glaucus  in  the  oppos- 
ing armies  of  Homer's  story,  had  exchanged 
weapons.  The  State  henceforth  would  seek  to  wield 
the  spiritual  power  and  the  Church  the  temporal. 
But  alas,  as  in  the  exchange  of  weapons  on  the 
Trojan  battlefield,  for  brass  arms  of  mean  device 
the  church  gave  her  own  "  of  gold  divinely 
wrought." 

Democratic  Polity  Successful. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  the  democratic  polity  has 
always  worked  successfully  when  fairly  tried,  among 
barbarians  or  civilized  men.  It  is  working  well  to- 
day in  many  mission  fields.  It  is  peculiarly  the 
polity  of  the  intelligent  and  the  spiritual,  it  is  true. 
But  then  its  fundamental  assumption,  as  Baptists 
hold  it,  is  that  every  member  of  each  congregation 
is  a  regenerated  man.  We  do  not  realize  our  ideal 
of  course,  but  our  doctrine  and  practice  are  a  bul- 
wark of  protection  against  evils  from  without. 
Luther's  objection  to  Congregationalism  for  the 
Germans  was  that  they  were  "  wild "  and  "  tur- 
bulent." But  Baptists  assume  at  least,  and  seek  to 
embody  the  assumption  in  church  life,  that  church- 
members  have  been  "  tamed  "  by  the  Spirit  of  God. 


146  THE   AXIOMS    OF   RELIGION 

Certainly  the  congregational  polity  was  quite  suited 
to  the  New  Testament  age  and  ere  long  the  beacon 
fires  of  a  new  hope  for  mankind  were  kindled  all 
around  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean.  Spiritual 
power  waned  as  these  democracies  were  left  behind 
and  Christianity  went  forth  into  the  wilderness  of 
the  Dark  Ages  to  meet  the  giant  of  sin,  not  with  the 
spiritual  weapons  of  the  earlier  days,  which  under 
God  had  conquered  the  Roman  power,  but  with 
the  carnal  weapons  which  she  had  wrested  from  the 
hands  of  her  conquered  foe. 

4.  It  will  be  in  order  now  to  look  for  a  moment  at 
the  equipment  of  democracy  for  its  spiritual  tasks. 
It  can  be  maintained  that  as  Baptists  hold  it  this 
form  of  polity  is  eminently  fitted  for  the  work 
which  Christianity  is  to  perform  in  the  world.  This 
is  by  no  means  to  overlook  the  fact  that  centralized 
polities  possess  certain  advantages  for  doing  some 
things.  But  where  there  is  gain  in  one  respect  there 
is  loss  in  another. 

Be  it  said  at  once  then  that  Baptists  have  no 
creed-making  or  other  legislative  power.  They  hold 
that  all  men  are  directly  answerable  to  Christ,  and 
that  the  Scriptures  are  a  sufficient  revelation  of 
his  will.  Neither  have  they  any  courts  to  try  here- 
tics. They  believe  the  local  church,  with  the  help 
of  a  council  of  wise  advisers,  can  attend  to  all 
judicial  matters.  As  a  result  they  have  never  lost 
any  time  or  energy  over  the  question  of  creed  re- 
vision.    Their  general  bodies  do  not  require  weeks 


THE    ECCLESIASTICAL    AXIOM  I47 

to  transact  the  Lord's  business  chiefly  because  they 
are  unencumbered  by  complicated  systems  of  legis- 
lative and  judicial  machinery.  Baptists  sometimes 
express  surprise  that  their  general  conventions  are 
not  more  widely  exploited  in  the  secular  press.  A 
reporter  recently  gave  the  true  answer.  "  The 
reason  is,"  he  said,  "  you  Baptists  have  no  church 
politics  in  your  conventions." 

Baptists  and  Organization. 

Baptists,  however,  can  and  do  organize  their 
forces  efficiently.  We  have  the  district  Associa- 
tions or  voluntary  assemblies  of  messengers  from 
local  churches  covering  a  limited  district.  We  have 
our  State  Conventions  which  include  messengers 
from  all  parts  of  the  State,  and  our  general  conven- 
tions among  English  and  Continental  and  other 
Baptists.  Our  organization,  therefore,  in  its  ampli- 
tude and  geographical  extent  is  equal  to  that,  say, 
of  our  Presbyterian  brethren,  but  without  imitating 
them  in  the  introduction  of  the  principle  of  indirect 
authority.  None  of  these  bodies  is  legislative  or 
judicial.  Christ  is  the  sole  authority  in  all.  They 
are  for  advisory  and  administrative  purposes. 

Then  too,  our  superintendents  and  secretaries  of 
missions  perform  the  work  of  bishops  without  any 
of  the  authority  of  bishops.  They  visit  the  fields 
and  lend  a  helping  hand  by  means  of  suggestion, 
and  in  other  ways.  But  they  have  no  semblance 
of  authority  over  any  congregation  however  small. 


THE   AXIOMS    OF   RELIGION 


We  have  also  a  great  variety  of  Boards  and 
councils.  Congregationalism  is  capable  of  great 
diversity  in  this  respect-  These  are  not  rigid  in 
form  that  they  may  not  be  changed  when  occasion 
arises.    Thus  there  is  all  needful  flexibility. 

We  must  of  course  frankly  recognize  our  short- 
comings. There  is  often  an  over-emphasis  of  indi- 
vidualism. Demagogues  have  occasionally  taken 
the  place  of  wise  leaders  over  limited  areas  and  for 
a  brief  period.  Questions  of  administration  have 
sometimes  led  to  temporary  schism  and  unwhole- 
some controversy.  But  as  there  is  no  legal  solidarity 
of  the  denomination,  so  also  there  is  no  way  to  split 
it  into  two  or  more  parts  on  general  questions. 
When  divided  we  remain  in  a  state  of  unstable  equi- 
librium and  can  reunite  at  any  time.  There  is  no 
chemical  law  operative  among  us  which  leads  to 
crystallization  of  separated  parts  on  permanently 
antagonistic  lines.  If  a  local  church  becomes 
worldly  and  dies  spiritually  it  may  also  pass  out  of 
existence  as  a  visible  organization.  It  cannot  re- 
main as  a  burden  to  its  sister  churches.  It  is  simply 
insulated  from  the  rest  by  its  own  worldliness.  The 
spiritual  churches,  however,  may  unite  in  their 
Associations  and  Conventions  for  mutual  helpful- 
ness. 

An  Evil  to  be  Corrected. 

There  is  another  really  great  evil  which  may  be 
but  which  has  not  yet  been  corrected.     Members 


TilE    ECCLESIASTICAL    AXIOM  I49 

leaving  one  church  frequently  refuse  to  put  their 
letters  in  the  church  of  the  community  in  which  they 
live.  Our  pastors  are  sometimes  to  blame  here. 
They  encourage  their  members  too  often  not  to 
call  for  church  letters.  "  Parochial  selfishness  "  is 
the  name  which  has  been  given  to  this  tendency. 
Baptists  ought  to  correct  it. 

The  freedom  and  autonomy  of  Baptist  churches 
give  rise  to  another  fact  which  is  evil  in  one  aspect 
and  good  in  another.  As  unity  among  us  is  volun- 
tary and  not  enforced  it  sometimes  comes  slowly. 
Intelligence  and  spirituality,  or  common  sense  and 
the  grace  of  God,  are  the  only  unifying  forces  at 
our  command.  Sometimes,  therefore,  there  are  two 
or  three  or  four  denominational  papers  where  there 
should  be  but  one.  The  same  is  true  of  denomina- 
tional schools  and  once  in  a  long  while  of  Associa- 
tions and  Conventions.  This,  however,  while  it  is 
an  element  of  weakness  has  its  good  side.  It  is  our 
way  of  carrying  out  the  principle  of  live  and  let 
live.  Time,  however,  nearly  always  corrects  the 
divisive  tendencies  for  the  reason  that  there  are  no 
permanent  barriers  to  unity  which  any  one  can 
erect,  and  slowly  common  sense  and  duty  assert 
themselves.  It  is  a  prime  merit  of  our  polity  that 
conscience  and  judgment  can  never  be  permanently 
ruled  out  of  court.  In  centralized  polities  the  hands 
of  common  sense  are  sometimes  bound  by  the  red 
tape  or  chartered  powers  of  institutionalism,  while 
the  voice  of  conscience  is  stifled  by  authority. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE    MORAL   AXIOM  :   TO   BE   RESPONSIBLE   THE   SOUL 
MUST  BE  FREE 

This  axiom  scarcely  needs  comment  of  any  kind 
so  far  as  its  terms  and  general  meaning  are  con- 
cerned. It  is  the  basis  of  all  ethics.  No  system  of 
morals  or  of  theology  attempts  now  to  repudiate 
or  even  to  question  it.  As  we  have  seen,  God's 
sovereignty  respects  it.  No  gardener  with  a  passion- 
ate love  for  growing  things  ever  dealt  so  gently  and 
skilfully  with  a  delicate  vine  in  training  it  to  climb 
its  trellis  as  God  deals  with  the  human  will.  We 
should  imitate  God  in  this.  The  gospel  message  is 
never  forced  upon  the  will.  Indeed  the  will  cannot 
be  "  forced."  The  ideas  of  the  will  and  of  force 
are  incompatible  and  incommensurable. 

The  appeal  of  the  moral  axiom  is  to  our  self- 
consciousness.  This  is  what  gave  it  power  when 
the  theologians  after  the  Reformation  urged  it 
against  the  extreme  Calvinism  of  the  day.  Men 
knew  they  were  free,  and  therefore  no  theory  of 
God's  decrees  which  ignored  this  fact  could  per- 
manently hold  its  place  in  the  doctrinal  system.  The 
reaction  went  too  far,  but  it  was  wholesome  and 
necessary. 

It  is  our  own  consciousness  of  freedom  which 
>5o 


THE   MORAL  AXIOM  I5I 

fortifies  us  against  the  modern  doctrine  of  heredity. 
On  one  side,  of  course,  heredity  contains  a  great 
and  profoundly  significant  truth.  But  man's  moral 
sense  will  here  stubbornly  guard  the  citadel  of 
freedom.  The  soul  may  not  be  able  to  defend  its 
freedom  in  a  speculative  or  metaphysical  way.  But 
it  shuts  itself  in  its  castle,  closes  the  drawbridge  and 
every  other  avenue  of  entrance,  and  defies  the  foe. 
It  knows  there  is  something  wrong  with  any  meta- 
physics which  denies  freedom,  and  if  metaphysics 
cannot  overcome  the  difficulty  it  is  merely  bad  for 
metaphysics. 

Freedom  Against  Heredity  and  Materialism. 

Our  consciousness  of  freedom,  again,  repudiates 
materialism.  When  materialism  asserts  that  moral 
choices  are  the  product  of  chance  combinations  of 
atoms  and  molecules  in  the  dim  past,  the  soul  denies. 
When  a  Christian  gives  a  cup  of  cold  water  to 
another  in  the  name  of  Christ,  or  spends  his  life  as 
a  spiritual  hero  in  the  effort  to  redeem  the  islands 
of  the  sea,  and  materialists  tell  him  his  entire  con- 
duct was  predestined  by  the  dancing  atoms  be- 
fore chaos  had  become  cosmos,  the  Christian  enters 
his  quiet  but  none  the  less  emphatic  denial  and 
passes  on. 

Of  course  there  are  good  and  sound  defenses  of 
freedom  on  theological,  metaphysical,  and  psycho- 
logical grounds,  as  well  as  on  moral  and  religious. 
Our  purpose  here  does  not  require  that  we  present 


THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 


them  even  in  outline.  We  are  dealing  with  an 
axiom.  It  is  because  this  is  an  axiomatic  truth  that 
it  holds  its  place  in  human  thought  and  experience 
in  spite  of  all  metaphysical  objections.  If  a  lumi- 
nous object  holds  place  in  the  firmament  through  a 
period  of  thousands  of  years  and  is  observed  by  the 
entire  human  race  except  a  few  men  of  defective 
vision,  surely  we  are  warranted  in  asserting  that  it 
is  a  fixed  star  and  denying  that  it  is  a  meteor. 

Jesus  taught  the  moral  freedom  of  man.  Not 
only  so,  he  asserted  it  for  himself.  The  first  re- 
corded event  in  his  life  after  the  story  of  the  birth 
is  an  account  of  an  act  of  self-assertion  when  he  was 
twelve  years  of  age.  This  was  the  temple  experi- 
ence. He  did  not  disobey  his  parents,  but  he  evi- 
dently had  come  into  a  sense  of  his  heritage  of  indi- 
vidual responsibility.  He  declared  later  that  he 
"  came  "  into  the  world,  that  he  would  "  go  "  to  the 
Father.  He  asserted  that  he  would  "  lay  down  "  his 
life  and  that  he  would  "  take  it "  again.  In  all  his 
intimate  union  with  the  Father  there  is  never  on 
the  Father's  part  the  slightest  movement  or  impulse 
to  override  the  voluntary  choice  of  the  Son. 

Christ  and  Free  Choices. 

Jesus  inveighed  against  the  idea  of  heredity  as 
giving  spiritual  rights  or  privileges  apart  from 
personal  choice  and  corresponding  character.  The 
Jews  were  no  true  sons  of  Abraham  because  they 
were    simply    physical    descendants    of    Abraham. 


THE   MORAL  AXIOM  153 

Heredity  did  not  bind  the  will,  and  heredity  did  not 
exempt  the  will  from  moral  choices  and  personal 
obedience  in  the  New  Covenant. 

Now  freedom  is  self-determination.  Of  course 
it  does  not  mean  that  the  will  is  without  bias,  or 
that  human  choices  are  uninfluenced  by  external 
forces  or  other  human  personalities,  or  by  divine 
influences  of  grace.  It  only  means  that  when  a 
man  acts  he  acts  for  himself.  The  choice  is  his  own. 
He  is  not  compelled  but  impelled.  He  is  self- 
determined.  This  is  the  core  of  manhood  and  per- 
sonality. This  is  the  inner  glory  of  our  being.  It 
is  the  one  spark  of  fire  which  kindles  about  our 
humanity  its  unique  splendor. 

In  all  spheres  freedom  is  self-determination.  In 
civic  life  political  freedom  is  self-government.  A 
government  of  the  people  by  the  people  for  the 
people  is  a  free  government.  The  individual  is  po- 
litically free  only  when  he  exercises  his  function 
as  citizen  without  artificial  or  unjust  extraneous 
hindrance.  A  man  is  intellectually  free  when  he  is 
intellectually  self-determined.  His  beliefs  are  not 
imposed  by  authority  but  accepted  as  his  own  free 
act.  Industrial  freedom  is  the  privilege  of  self- 
determination  in  the  economic  world.  Unjust  dis- 
criminations, class  legislation,  inequitable  adjust- 
ments of  the  industrial  machinery  at  any  point 
impair  or  subvert  industrial  freedom.  In  morals 
freedom  is  self-determination  in  conduct.  In  religion 
freedom  is  exemption  from  State  compulsion,  social 


154  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

compulsion,  ecclesiastical  or  priestly  compulsion, 
creedal  compulsion,  or  parental  compulsion.  Re- 
ligious freedom  on  its  positive  side  is  God  appealing 
to  the  soul  through  truth  and  calling  forth  the  soul's 
intelligent  and  obedient  response.  It  is  the  soul's 
approach  to  God  through  faith  and  prayer  and  fel- 
lowship and  obtaining  grace  to  help  in  time  of  need. 

Christ  and  the  Will. 

Now  it  is  the  peculiar  and  special  work  of  Christ 
to  set  free  the  individual  will  in  such  manner  that 
it  unfolds  in  moral  beauty  in  the  personal  character 
and  coalesces  socially  with  other  wills  in  the  beauty 
of  a  holy  society. 

The  Anglo-Saxons  made  one  chief  contribution 
to  the  civilization  of  the  world.  This  was  the  love 
of  individual  freedom.  Guizot  claims  that  this 
Anglo-Saxon  sense  of  personality  and  love  of 
freedom  was  found  nowhere  else.  He  is  right, 
doubtless,  so  far  as  the  natural  man  is  concerned. 
But  it  is  exactly  this  gift  which  Christ  bestows.  The 
same  love  of  freedom  and  sense  of  personality,  the 
same  self-assertion  and  love  of  adventure,  the  same 
response  to  the  challenge  of  danger  and  of  great  un- 
dertaking in  a  line  of  exact  analogy  to  the  old  Anglo- 
Saxon  principle,  all  this  appears  in  Christianity,  but 
with  a  vast  difference.  Under  Christ  all  is  regen- 
erated and  spiritualized.  Anglo-Saxon  liberty  was 
limited  only  by  the  conditions  of  the  physical  en- 
vironment— mountains  and  seas,  and  the  stubborn 


THE   MORAL  AXIOM  1 55 

moods  of  nature — and  only  these  imposed  a  check 
upon  its  career.  Christian  liberty  is  limited  only  by 
the  spiritual  environment.  But  the  inner  impulse 
to  personal  and  social  development  under  Christ  is 
like  an  endless  spring  fixed  in  the  machinery  of 
man's  faculties  and  uncoiling  itself  through  the 
centuries  in  ever-increasing  vigor  and  power.  Anglo- 
Saxon  freedom  v^ithout  the  Christian  fire  to  purge 
and  sanctify  it  leads  to  the  overman  of  Nietzsche 
and  his  follov^^ers,  the  colossus  of  pitiless  and  selfish 
power,  who  glories  chiefly  in  the  fact  that  he  is 
destitute  of  love  and  the  softer  virtues.  Christian 
freedom  on  the  other  hand  produces  the  moral  and 
spiritual  giants  of  history  who,  to  the  kingly  ele- 
ments of  power,  have  always  added  the  priestly  ele- 
ments of  love  and  service.  Christ  made  us  to  be 
"  kings  and  priests  unto  God." 

Power  Conjoined  With  Freedom. 

A  sense  of  power  conjoined  with  freedom  is  char- 
acteristic of  the  best  Christians — of  the  men  who 
choose  Christ  for  themselves  and  make  him  their 
ideal.  Nowhere  do  you  find  such  spontaneity  and 
grandeur,  such  untrammeled  energy  and  buoyancy 
as  in  men  who  do  this.  Look  at  Paul.  He  abounds 
in  images  which  suggest  spontaneity  and  exuberant 
joy.  See  him  yonder  when,  like  a  mighty  swimmer, 
he  rises  above  the  billows  of  adversity  and  difficulty, 
and  exclaims,  "  I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ." 
Hear  him  as  he  spreads  the  wings  of  devotion,  and 


156  THE  AXIOMS  OF   RELIGION 

ill  a  splendid  flight  of  mystic  passion  shouts  "  To 
me  to  live  is  Christ,  and  to  die  is  gain."  Observe 
him  as  he  is  caught  in  the  mighty  grip  of  moral 
enthusiasm  and  self-conquest,  exulting  in  the  joy  of 
battle :  "  Thanks  be  unto  God,  who  always  leadeth 
me  in  victory  through  Christ."  See  him  again  as  he 
is  impelled  onward,  the  embodiment  of  flaming  love 
and  quenchless  hope,  and  deathless  ambition,  run- 
ning the  Christian  race  as  one  who  treads  the  air, 
and  exclaiming,  "  Forgetting  the  things  that  are 
behind,  I  press  on  toward  the  mark." 

The  moral  career  of  Paul  reminds  one  of  the 
flight  of  some  mighty  eagle  long  confined  in  a  cage 
and  then  released ;  at  first  he  is  uncertain  of  his  new 
feeling  of  freedom,  but  at  length,  becoming  con- 
scious of  it  the  heavy  eyelids  open,  he  looks  about 
him,  his  drooping  wings  he  gathers  for  flight  and 
then,  with  a  scream  of  joy,  he  soars  away  to  the 
clouds.  His  eagle  soul  has  found  its  object  in  God's 
free  air,  Jesus  Christ  is  the  atmosphere  of  the  soul. 
And  this  is  the  secret  of  Christ's  authority  over  men. 
Through  him  they  find  themselves.  It  is  a  paradox, 
but  it  is  forever  true.  Men  are  the  slaves  of  Christ 
because  he  makes  them  kings — masters  of  their  own 
destiny.  He  imparts  to  them  spiritual  autonomy 
and  thus  roots  his  throne  in  the  deep  foundations 
of  the  soul.  Such  free  moral  career,  therefore, 
should  not  be  hampered  by  infant  baptism.  Leave 
the  soul  to  unfold  under  Christian  nurture.  Let 
the  beams  of  Christ  fall  directly  upon  the  will,  the 


THE   MORAL  AXIOM  1 57 

conscience,  and  the  intelligence  of  the  child,  and  as 
a  rose  responds  to  sunlight,  it  will  unfold  beneath 
his  rays. 

Evil  of  Infant  Baptism. 

What,  we  may  inquire  now,  in  the  light  of  this 
principle,  is  the  evil  of  infant  baptism?  It  is  mani- 
fold. One  side  of  the  matter  we  have  already  ex- 
pounded. Here  we  note  another.  Its  cardinal  evil 
is  that  the  religious  choice  of  the  child  is  fore- 
stalled by  the  parent.  The  religious  destiny  of  the 
oflfspring  is  thus  assumed  by  another  without 
warrant  from  Scripture  and  without  any  rational 
justification  from  other  sources.  To  baptize  a  child 
in  infancy  is  to  treat  it  not  as  a  free  moral  per- 
sonality, but  as  a  thing.  Many  writers  of  power 
and  insight  who  hold  no  brief  for  the  Baptists,  but 
who  discern  the  tendencies  of  things,  have  com- 
mented upon  the  baleful  effects  of  clerical  and 
parental  interference  with  the  human  will.  Guizot 
discussing  this  general  principle  says :  "  For  with 
what  do  they  pretend  to  interfere  ?  With  the  reason 
and  conscience  and  future  destiny  of  man — that  is  to 
say  with  that  which  is  the  closest  locked  up;  with 
that  which  is  most  strictly  individual;  with  that 
which  is  most  free.  We  can  imagine  how  up  to  a 
certain  point,  a  man,  whatever  ill  may  result  from  it, 
may  give  up  the  direction  of  his  temporal  affairs  to 
an  outward  authority.  We  can  conceive  a  notion 
of  that  philosopher  who,  when  one  told  him  that 


158  THE    AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

his  house  was  on  fire  said,  *  Go  tell  my  wife ;  I  never 
meddle  with  household  affairs.'  But  when  our  con- 
science, our  thoughts,  our  intellectual  existence  are 
at  stake — to  give  up  the  government  of  one's  very 
soul  to  the  authority  of  a  stranger,  is  indeed  a  moral 
suicide ;  is  indeed  a  thousand  times  worse  than  bodily 
servitude — than  to  become  a  mere  appurtenance  of 
the  soil."  ^  The  same  writer  defining  the  function  of 
religion  in  another  place  remarks :  "  But  while  it  is 
with  human  liberty  that  all  religions  have  to  contend, 
while  they  aspire  to  reform  the  will  of  man,  they 
have  no  means  by  which  they  can  act  upon  him — 
they  have  no  moral  power  over  him,  but  through  his 
will,  his  liberty.  When  they  make  use  of  exterior 
means,  when  they  resort  to  force,  to  seduction — 
in  short  make  use  of  means  opposed  to  the  free 
consent  of  man,  they  treat  him  as  we  treat  water, 
wind,  or  any  power  entirely  physical :  they  fail  in 
their  object;  they  attain  not  their  end;  they  do  not 
reach,  they  cannot  govern  the  will.  Before  religions 
can  really  accomplish  their  task,  it  is  necessary  that 
they  should  be  accepted  by  the  free  will  of  man ;  it 
is  necessary  that  man  shovld  submit,  but  it  must  be 
willingly  and  freely,  and  that  he  still  preserve  his 
liberty  in  the  midst  of  this  submission."  ^  In  these 
words  Guizot  has  touched  as  with  a  point  of  a  needle 
the  crux  of  the  whole  question  and  sketched  for 
us  a  great  principle  which  is  of  the  essence  of 
Christianity.    That  which  does  not  address  the  will 

>  "History  of  Civilization,"  Vol.  I,  p.  127.  '  Ibid.,  p.  139. 


THE   MORAL  AXIOM  I59 

or  the  intelligence,  that  ceremony  or  rite  or  form 
which  does  none  of  these  things  is  alien  to  the 
genius  of  the  gospel.  It  belongs  to  another  order 
and  another  system  entirely. 

Take  now  the  case  of  the  child  baptized  in  in- 
fancy. When  it  grows  up  it  may  become  immoral, 
a  bad  boy  or  youth.  This  boy  may,  in  order  to 
evade  the  force  of  Christ's  requirement,  "  Ye  must 
be  born  again,"  plead  his  baptism  in  infancy.  "  I 
was  regenerated  then  and  do  not  need  a  new  birth 
now,"  he  urges.  So  also  Christ's  command  to  "  re- 
pent and  be  baptized  "  falls  on  deaf  ears  because  he 
connects  the  act  of  repentance  with  the  act  of  bap- 
tism which  his  parents  assure  him  occurred  in  in- 
fancy. Thus  baptism  becomes  a  wall  of  separation 
between  his  soul  and  Christ — an  opaque  body  inter- 
posed between  him  and  the  Sun  of  Righteousness 
throwing  him  into  the  shadow  of  a  spiritual  eclipse. 

The  same  result  may  ensue  even  when  evidences 
of  flagrant  depravity  do  not  appear  in  the  life.  The 
way  to  a  real  experience  of  Christ's  saving  power, 
of  his  moral  and  spiritual  energy  in  the  soul,  may 
be  quite  as  effectually  barred  in  this  case  also  by  a 
baptism  which  occurred  in  infancy.  For  the  ques- 
tion of  personal  repentance  and  regeneration  is 
regarded  as  a  closed  question. 

Awakening  and  Duty. 

But  suppose  the  boy  has  come  into  the  life  that  is 
in  Christ  with  all  its  mighty  awakening  and  quick- 


l6o  THE   AXIOMS   OF    RELIGION 

ening.  His  soul  is  keenly  alive  to  duty  and  he  longs 
for  opportunities  of  service.  He  opens  his  New 
Testament  and  reads  that  men  first  believed  and 
were  then  baptized.  "  Repent  and  be  baptized  every 
one  of  you,"  he  reads.  "  He  that  believeth  and  is 
baptized  shall  be  saved."  The  question  of  baptism 
then  becomes  intensely  personal.  He  searches  his 
memory  in  vain  for  any  evidence  that  he  ever  obeyed 
this  command.  All  he  knows  on  the  subject  is  hear- 
say. Every  other  Christian  duty  he  is  permitted  to 
perform  for  himself.  The  Lord's  Supper,  endur- 
ing temptation,  moral  struggle,  all  church  and 
spiritual  privileges  are  his  except  one.  In  all  these 
other  things  his  attitude  is  one  of  obedience  to 
Christ.  But  here  is  a  great  exception.  It  was  pre- 
determined in  some  strange  way  by  others,  when  he 
was  in  no  sense  a  conscious  party  to  the  arrange- 
ment, that  he  should  never  be  permitted  to  adopt 
the  attitude  of  obedience  to  Christ  in  baptism.  Thus 
he  finds  himself  unable  to  fit  his  infant  baptism  into 
the  scheme  of  his  life  at  all.  All  other  elements  and 
factors  of  it  run  together  harmoniously.  This  factor 
of  baptism  is  alien.  It  came  in  on  some  other  prin- 
ciple, one  which  is  irreconcilable  with  all  else  in  his 
experience  and  in  his  relation  to  Christ  and  the 
church.  If  any  one  says  to  him  he  is  free  to  be 
baptized  again  if  he  so  elects,  this  does  not  clear  up 
the  case  of  the  first  baptism.  For  he  sees  that  it  is 
the  great  exception  and  can  by  no  process  of  forcing 
be  made  to  fit  into  the  plan  of  an  obedient  life. 


THE   MORAL  AXIOM  l6l 

Doing  Violence  to  the  Will, 

The  natural  effect  follows.  He  is  shocked, 
amazed,  surprised,  and  asks,  Who  tampered  thus 
with  my  will?  Who  dared  assume  to  perform  an 
outward  act  of  religious  duty  for  me?  It  is  thus 
clear  that  infant  baptism  violates  the  moral  axiom. 
It  does  not  leave  the  soul  free.  It  introduces  a  con- 
fusing principle  into  the  spiritual  career  of  the  child 
which  proves  injurious  to  thousands. 

The  father  and  the  mother,  the  sponsor  and  the 
clergy  have  no  right  to  rob  the  child  of  its  right 
to  obey  God  for  itself.  Who  does  not  recall  the  joy 
of  obeying  his  Lord  in  baptism?  Who  has  not 
known  the  truth  of  the  words  of  the  old  song — 

Oh,  happy  day  that  fixed  my  choice 
On  thee,  my  Saviour  and  my  God. 

Well  may  this  glowing  heart  rejoice 
And  tell  its  raptures  all  abroad. 

Who  does  not  remember  that  experience  who  has 
ever  had  it?  Who  does  not  look  back  to  it  as  the 
brightest  day  in  a  lifetime?  But  infant  baptism 
leaves  no  room  for  fixing  the  choice;  there  is  no 
glowing  heart,  for  it  is  the  heart  of  the  unknowing 
babe ;  there  is  no  rapture  to  tell  abroad,  for  in  such 
a  life  baptism  is  simply  a  tradition  told  in  later 
years,  when  the  power  of  understanding  has  come. 
The  wrong  of  infant  baptism  is  the  wrong  of  a 
human  shadow  flung  between  the  soul  and   God, 


l62  THE   AXIOMS    OF    RELIGION 

Then  and  there  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  passes 
into  eclipse,  the  meaning  of  Christianity  is  confused, 
and  the  danger  is  that  the  soul's  life  will  henceforth 
be  spent  in  the  shadow. 

It  would  be  easy  to  fill  many  pages  with  quota- 
tions from  men  of  all  Protestant  denominations 
who  insist  upon  the  principle  I  am  here  advocating, 
although  they  do  not  all  consistently  apply  it  prac- 
tically. Two  or  three  brief  citations  must  suffice, 
however,  as  our  space  is  limited.  Dr.  Newman 
Smyth  in  his  "  Christian  Ethics  "  denies  that  men 
sustain  the  same  relation  to  the  church  that  in 
some  countries  men  sustain  to  the  State  Church,  as 
in  ancient  Rome.  There  all  citizens  were  members 
of  the  State  Church.  The  Christian  church,  he 
says,  "  does  not  offer  its  citizenship  simply  as  a 
Christian  birthright,  but  also  as  a  duty  to  be  assumed 
with  a  personal  faith  in  its  truth,  and  in  a  free  self- 
surrender  to  its  supreme  law  of  life."  ^  He  then  in- 
sists upon  Christ's  requirements  for  church-member- 
ship and  denies  the  right  of  any  to  change  them. 
Repentance  and  faith,  he  says,  a  voluntary  accept- 
ance of  the  Christian  obligation  are  indispensable. 
"  The  universal  intent  of  the  church  as  a  blessing 
belonging  by  heaven's  decree  to  all  men,  should 
serve  as  a  perpetual  injunction  upon  human  devices 
or  forms  which  narrow  or  limit  its  divine  design. 
When  we  look  solely  at  what  may  be  imposed  as 
an  indispensable  condition  of  fellowship  with  Christ 

■  "  Christian  Ethics,"  p.  423. 


THE   MORAL  AXIOM  1 63 

in  the  visible  Church,  we  may  not  go  one  step  be- 
yond the  Lord's  own  requirements  of  discipleship."  ^ 
There  is  of  course  no  possible  way  of  reconciling 
the  principle  thus  expounded  with  infant  baptism, 
and  Doctor  Smyth  does  not  succeed  in  doing  so. 

Professor  Van  Dyke  on  Freedom. 

Professor  Van  Dyke  also,  in  his  "  Gospel  for  an 
Age  of  Doubt,"  expounds  the  same  general  principle 
of  individual  and  personal  responsibility  to  Christ. 
"  But  this  receiving,"  he  says,  "  we  need  to  assert 
again  and  again,  is  not  a  passive  thing.  It  is  an 
action  of  the  soul,  the  opening  of  a  door  within  the 
heart,  the  welcoming  of  a  heavenly  master.  God 
does  not  save  men  as  a  watchmaker  who  repairs  and 
sets  a  watch,  but  as  a  king  who  recalls  his  servants 
to  their  duty,  as  a  Father  who  makes  new  revela- 
tions of  his  love  to  draw  the  lost  children  back  to 
himself."  Doctor  Van  Dyke  is  right.  The  watch- 
maker deals  with  a  thing,  not  with  a  person,  and 
hence  he  may  do  to  it  what  he  wills.  But  not  so  in 
dealing  with  a  human  soul.  Its  own  integrity  as  a 
distinct  personality  cannot  be  violated.  Speaking  of 
Buddha  and  Mahomet  he  declares  that  their  chief 
fault  lies  in  failure  here.  ''  They  despise  and  slight 
personality.  Christ  accepts  and  emphasizes  it. 
They  aim  to  reduce  and  evaporate  responsibility, 
Christ  aims  to  deepen  and  increase  it."  ^ 

'  "  Christian  Ethics,"  p.  427. 

'  "  Gospel  for  an  Age  of  Doubt,"  pp.  237,  238, 


164  THE   AXIOMS    OF   RELIGION 

It  is  abundantly  clear  from  all  the  foregoing  that 
in  dealing  with  children  religiously  we  are  strictly 
limited  by  the  nature  of  the  child  and  by  the  nature 
of  religion.  The  law  is  simple  and  easy  to  grasp. 
Freedom  and  responsibility  go  hand  in  hand.  A  rite, 
ceremony,  or  ordinance,  which  can  be  observed  or 
performed  only  with  the  free  consent  of  the  recipient 
can  never  be  administered  without  evil  consequences 
in  the  absence  of  that  free  consent.  If  free  consent 
is  the  correlative  to  the  intelligent  administration  of 
the  ordinance,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  re- 
ligion itself,  then  administration  without  free  con- 
sent renders  it  null  and  void,  and  mischievous 
besides. 

Many  Radical  Presuppositions. 

There  are  many  radical  presuppositions  and  as- 
sumptions underlying  the  practice  of  infant  baptism 
which  reenforce  the  plea  we  are  making  for  the  right 
of  the  soul  to  measure  responsibility  by  freedom. 

Infant  baptism  assumes  the  insufficiency  of  the 
word  and  the  Spirit  in  parental  and  Christian 
nurture  by  anticipating  and  forestalling  the  action 
of  the  word  and  Spirit  before  the  child's  intelligence 
admits  of  it.  Infant  baptism  assumes  that  Christ 
demands  from  the  soul  what  the  soul  cannot  give. 
For  there  are  thousands  of  infants  left  without 
baptism,  and  when  the  child  of  the  Christian  parent 
dies  without  it,  it  leaves  a  heartbreak  which  no 
church  has  a  right  to  inflict  by  such  teaching. 


THE   MORAL  AXIOM  165 


Logically  carried  out  infant  baptism  excludes 
conversion  from  the  possible  experiences  of  the 
children  of  church-members  and  tends  toward  a 
church  without  a  converted  membership.  Unless 
counteracted  in  some  way  by  more  spiritual  means, 
as  is  happily  true  in  most  of  our  evangelical  Pedo- 
baptist  churches  in  America,  the  churches  become 
increasingly  alienated  in  life  and  character  from 
the  Christian  ideals.  On  the  continent  in  Europe, 
however,  this  condition  of  affairs  has  attracted  the 
attention  and  called  for  the  grave  comment  of  men 
like  Professor  Harnack  and  others  in  the  State 
churches  there.  As  infant  baptism  cannot  be  recon- 
ciled with  the  essential  principles  of  Christianity,  as 
we  know  these  principles  from  the  New  Testament, 
so  also  if  resorted  to  as  a  means  of  explaining  the 
origin  of  Christianity  in  New  Testament  times  it 
would  lead  us  into  inextricable  confusion,  and 
reduce  the  whole  process  to  an  inconceivable 
absurdity. 

Again,  infant  baptism  substitutes  natural  heredity 
for  spiritual,  in  assuming  that  natural  birth  into 
a  Christian  family  entitles  per  se  to  the  rites  and 
ordinances  of  religion.  This  introduces  a  dualistic 
principle  into  our  anthropology,  or  doctrine  of 
human  nature,  and  leaves  the  general  theological 
system  unintelligible.  Baptism  of  course  may  be 
administered  to  improper  subjects  under  any  view 
of  it,  but  to  confine  it  to  those  who  are  capable 
of  making  a  credible  profession  of  faith  at  least 


1 66  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

respects  human  freedom  and  supplies  a  scriptural 
and  rational  basis  for  it. 

Natural,  Does  Not  Imply  Spiritual,  Heredity. 

This  ceremony  applied  to  infants  also  proceeds 
upon  the  assumption  that  the  Church  is  like  the 
State  and  that  natural  birth  entitles  to  membership 
in  it.  It  is  too  well  known  to  require  elaborate 
proof  here  that  in  this,  as  in  other  respects,  Christ's 
Church  is  radically  different  from  the  State. 

In  view  of  the  lack  of  direct  or  indirect  scriptural 
warrant  for  infant  baptism,  its  practice  assumes  that 
the  church  belongs  to  us  and  not  to  Christ,  and  that 
the  terms  of  admission  within  its  pale  are  in  our 
own  hands.  If  an  inferential  warrant  for  the  prac- 
tice is  insisted  upon,  as  is  usually  done,  this  opens 
the  door  of  the  church  so  wide  that  it  will  be  impos- 
sible to  protect  it.  For  all  kinds  of  inferences  ma> 
be  drawn  from  the  facts  of  the  New  Testament 
which  the  facts  neither  authorize  nor  require.  The 
constitution  of  the  church  is  too  vital  and  important 
a  matter  to  be  made  subject  to  precarious  deductions 
in  the  interest  of  traditional  practices  inherited  from 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  which  consistently  and 
avowedly  rejects  Scripture  as  the  sole  authority 
and  holds  to  the  joint  authority  of  tradition  and 
the  church  along  with  that  of  Scripture. 

Infant  baptism  is  a  curious  instance  in  which  ex- 
tremes meet.  It  really  interprets  God's  decree  of 
salvation  in  a  manner  like  that  of  the  antinomians 


THE   MORAL  AXIOM  167 

and  hyper-Calvinists.  The  latter  insist  that  man's 
action  is  not  required  by  God's  grace.  Irresistible 
grace  will  sweep  the  elect  into  the  kingdom  without 
co-operation  on  their  part.  This,  of  course,  simply 
ignores  human  freedom.  Infant  baptism  also  as- 
sumes that  grace  operates  without  the  co-operation 
of  the  will  of  the  child,  but  with  a  striking  differ- 
ence. In  the  one  case  it  is  insisted  that  we  must  not 
intermeddle  with  God's  plans  of  persuading  sinners 
to  believe,  while  in  the  other  it  is  urged  that  we 
must  intermeddle  and  assist  God's  decree  by  bring- 
ing the  infant  to  the  baptismal  font.  But,  properly 
understood,  God's  execution  of  his  decree  of  elec- 
tion is  the  shining  example  of  wise  method  in 
dealing  with  the  spirits  whom  he  has  created  and 
endowed  with  freedom.  For  whatever  may  be  myste- 
rious in  that  decree,  whatever  beyond  human  knowl- 
edge and  surmise,  one  thing  stands  out  clearly  in 
every  instance  of  its  execution  which  is  brought 
before  us  in  the  Scriptures.  He  always  makes  use 
of  persuasion.  He  respects  the  will.  Even  the 
Father  in  heaven  refuses  to  forget  that  men  are 
persons  and  not  things,  and  that  our  freedom  is  our 
inalienable  gift  from  his  gracious  hands. 


CHAPTER  X 

CHRISTIAN    NURTURE 

The  close  of  the  last  chapter  opens  the  way  to  a 
consideration  of  Christian  nurture.  We  devote  a 
brief  chapter  to  the  subject.  In  recent  years  there 
has  been  more  or  less  discussion  of  the  question 
whether  we  should  expect  the  conversion  of  chil- 
dren or  not.  The  position  has  been  taken  that 
Christian  nurture  should  lead  to  the  unconscious 
development  of  Christian  character  in  the  child. 
Dr.  Horace  Bushnell,  in  his  book  entitled  "  Chris- 
tian Nurture,"  has  given  striking  expression  to  this 
view.  Before  offering  our  own  view  of  the  subject, 
it  may  be  well  to  give  a  few  extracts  from  Bush- 
nell's  discussion  by  way  of  introduction. 

In  the  first  chapter  of  this  book  Doctor  Bushnell 
says  that  we  should  hold  the  view  "  that  the  child  is 
to  grow  up  a  Christian,  and  never  know  himself  as 
being  otherwise."  He  elaborates  this  thought  at 
length.  He  says  that  the  organic  unity  of  the  family 
requires  this,  and  that  Christian  principles  make  it 
necessary.  We  are  guilty  of  an  excessive  individ- 
ualism, he  thinks,  and  we  need  to  return  to  this 
conception  of  the  organic  unity  of  the  family.  In 
"  Christian  Nurture  "  he  says :  "  The  tendency  of 
all  our  modern  speculations  is  to  an  extreme  indi- 
i68 


CHRISTIAN    NURTURE  169 

vidualism,  and  we  carry  our  doctrine  of  free  will  so 
far  as  to  make  little  or  nothing  of  organic  laws; 
not  observing  that  character  may  be,  to  a  great 
extent,  only  the  free  development  of  exercises  pre- 
viously wrought  in  us,  or  extended  to  us,  when 
other  wills  had  us  within  their  sphere.  All  the 
Baptist  theories  of  religion  are  based  on  this  error. 
They  assume,  as  a  first  truth,  that  no  such  thing  is 
possible  as  an  organic  connection  of  character,  an 
assumption  which  is  plainly  refuted  by  what  we 
see  with  our  eyes  and,  as  I  shall  by  and  by  show, 
by  the  declarations  of  Scripture." 

BUSHNELL    AND    THE    BAPTIST    POSITION. 

Doctor  Bushnell  wholly  misstates  the  Baptist  at- 
titude in  the  above  passage.  Baptists  do  not  deny  that 
there  is  an  organic  unity  in  the  family,  as  we  shall  see. 
Of  course.  Doctor  Bushnell  applies  his  principle 
in  a  way  which  Baptists  object  to  seriously.  Infant 
baptism,  he  thinks,  is  a  logical  inference.  He  says : 
"  It  is  my  settled  conviction  that  no  man  ever  ob- 
jected to  infant  baptism,  who  had  not  at  the  bottom 
of  his  objection  false  views  of  Christian  educa- 
tion— who  did  not  hold  a  notion  of  individualism, 
in  regard  to  Christian  character  in  childhood,  which 
is  justified,  neither  by  observation  nor  by  Scripture. 

"  It  is  the  prevalence  of  false  views,  on  this  sub- 
ject, which  creates  so  great  difficulty  in  sustaining 
infant  baptism  in  our  churches.  If  children  are  to 
grow  up  in  sin,  to  be  converted  when  they  come  to 


I/O  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

the  age  of  maturity,  if  this  is  the  only  aim  and  ex- 
pectation of  family  nurture,  there  really  is  no  mean- 
ing or  dignity  whatever  in  the  rite." 

If  Doctor  Bushnell  had  pushed  his  investigations 
further,  we  do  not  doubt  he  would  have  discovered 
that  there  are  other  reasons  for  the  growing  disre- 
pute of  infant  baptism  among  the  churches  which 
practise  it.  He  might  have  found  that  regard  for 
the  headship  of  Christ  had  to  do  with  it. 

Doctor  Bushnell  has  a  sermon  entitled  "  The  Os- 
trich Nurture,"  in  which  he  holds  up  the  excessive 
individualism  of  the  day,  as  he  regards  it,  to  a  meas- 
ure of  ridicule.  Parents  deal  with  their  children  as 
ostriches  with  their  eggs — leave  them  to  be  hatched 
out  by  the  forces  of  nature — leave  them  exposed  to 
the  elements.  "  As  a  curious  illustration  of  the 
looseness  and  the  unsettled  feeling  of  the  times,  in 
regard  to  this  great  subject,  it  is  just  now  begin- 
ning to  be  asserted  by  some  that  the  true  principle  of 
training  for  children  is  exactly  that  of  the  ostrich, 
viz.,  no  training  at  all ;  the  best  government,  no 
government.  All  endeavors  to  fashion  them  by  the 
parental  standards,  or  to  induct  them  into  the  belief 
of  their  parents,  is  alleged  to  be  a  real  oppression 
put  upon  their  natural  liberty." 

It  is  quite  possible  that  such  a  view  of  child 
nurture  exists,  but  it  is  among  the  religiously  in- 
different. Doctor  Bushnell's  extreme  statement 
of  the  case  scarcely  applies  to  any  religious  denom- 
ination to-day,  if  it  ever  did. 


christian  nurture  17i 

The  Position  of  Bushnell. 

In  discussing  the  organic  unity  of  the  family,  Doc- 
tor Bushnell  states  his  general  position.  He  says : 
"  Perhaps  I  shall  be  understood  with  the  greatest 
facility  if  I  say  that  the  family  is  such  a  body  that 
a  power  over  character  is  exerted  therein,  zvhicli 
can  not  properly  be  called  influence.  We  commonly 
use  the  term  influence  to  denote  a  persuasive  power, 
or  a  governmental  power,  exerted  purposely,  and 
with  a  conscious  design  to  effect  some  result  in  the 
subject.  In  maintaining  the  organic  unity  of  the 
family,  I  mean  to  assert,  that  a  power  is  exerted 
by  parents  over  children,  not  only  when  they  teach, 
encourage,  persuade,  and  govern,  but  without  any 
purposed  control  whatever.  The  bond  is  so  intimate 
that  they  do  it  unconsciously  and  undesignedly — 
they  must  do  it.  .  .  All  such  acts  of  control  therefore 
must,  in  metaphysical  propriety,  and  as  far  as  the 
child  is  concerned,  be  classed  under  the  general  de- 
nomination of  organic  causes.  And  thus  whatever 
power  over  character  is  exerted  in  families  one  side 
of  consent,  in  the  children,  and  even  before  they 
have  come  to  the  age  of  rational  choice,  must  be 
taken  as  organic  power,  in  the  same  way  as  if  the 
effect  accrued  under  the  law  of  simple  contagion." 

Thus  we  see  Doctor  Bushnell  introduces  the  princi- 
ple of  natural  heredity  into  Christian  nurture  and 
makes  it  a  controlling  factor.  To  show  that  this  is 
true,  he  makes  the  following  statement :   "  In  all  of 


THE   AXIOMS   OF    RELIGION 


which  it  seems  to  be  clearly  held  that  grace  shall 
travel  by  the  same  conveyance  v^ith  sin ;  that  the  or- 
ganic unity,  which  I  have  spoken  of  chiefly  as  an  in- 
strument of  corruption,  is  to  be  occupied  and  sancti- 
fied by  Christ,  and  become  an  instrument  also  of 
mercy  and  life."  Again  he  says :  "  Now  the  true  con- 
ception is,  that  baptism  is  applied  to  the  child,  on  the 
ground  of  its  organic  unity  with  the  parents;  im- 
parting and  pledging  a  grace  to  sanctify  that  unity, 
and  make  it  good  in  the  field  of  religion.  By  the 
supposition,  however,  the  child  still  remains  within 
the  known  laws  of  character  in  the  house,  to  receive, 
under  these,  whatever  good  may  reach  him;  not 
snatched  away  by  an  abrupt,  fantastical,  and  there- 
fore incredible  grace.  He  is  taken  to  be  regenerate, 
not  historically  speaking,  but  presumptively,  on  the 
ground  of  his  known  connection  with  the  parent 
character,  and  the  divine  or  church  life,  which  is 
the  life  of  that  character.  Perhaps  I  shall  be  under- 
stood more  easily  if  I  say  that  the  child  is  potentially 
regenerate,  being  regarded  as  existing  in  connection 
with  powers  and  causes  that  contain  the  fact,  before 
time  and  separate  from  time." 

Doctor  Bushnell  maintains  that  a  child  comes  to  his 
individuality  gradually  as,  of  course,  we  all  do,  and 
seeks  to  divide  the  period  of  infancy  into  two  sec- 
tions :  that  of  impressions  merely,  the  earliest  period, 
and  the  age  of  tuitional  influences  or,  as  he  divides  it, 
"  the  age  of  existence  in  the  will  of  the  parent,  and 
the  age  of  will  and  personal  choice  in  the  child." 


CHRISTIAN    NURTURE  173 


The  above  extracts  indicate  with  sufficient  clear- 
ness and  fulness  the  general  position  of  Doctor  Bush- 
nell.  Let  it  be  said  at  once  that  the  Baptists  have 
no  quarrel  with  his  contention  as  to  early  influences 
and  unconscious  impressions  upon  childhood.  They 
offer  no  objection  to  the  general  position  that  the 
child's  life  is  in  very  large  measure  bound  up  in  the 
life  of  the  family.  Nor  is  there  any  objection  in 
general  to  the  idea  that  Christian  nurture  in  the 
home  should  be  so  thorough  that  the  child  will  be- 
come a  Christian  at  a  very  early  age.  The  serious 
objection  which  Baptists  offer  is  to  Bushnell's  posi- 
tion that  the  organic  unity  of  the  family  requires  an 
identification  of  the  family  with  the  church.  Men 
do  not  become  members  of  the  church  on  the  same 
conditions  as  members  of  a  family.  Again,  the 
position  of  Doctor  Bushnell  assumes  that  the  law  of 
heredity  from  Christ  is  the  same  as  the  law  of 
heredity  from  Adam.  Christ  is  the  new  head  of  the 
race,  but  men  are  related  to  him  by  faith,  and  not 
through  natural  propagation. 

Principles  of  Christian  Nurture. 

We  come  next  to  a  positive  statement  of  the 
principles  of  Christian  nurture.  And,  first  of  all, 
we  assert  that  Christian  nurture  should  recognize 
the  organic  unity  of  the  family.  The  family  life  is 
the  omnipresent  influence  surrounding  the  child. 
The  child  is  molded  by  it  unconsciously.  Before  it 
becomes  intelligent,  while  it  remains  as  a  potential 


174  TliE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

individual  only,  it  may  receive  impressions  that  are 
lasting.  If  you  hold  in  the  palm  of  your  open  hand 
a  lump  of  moist  clay  without  closing  your  fingers 
upon  it,  the  clay  will  nevertheless  bear  the  imprint 
of  the  lines  in  your  hand  when  you  lay  it  down. 
Thus  is  childhood  impressed  by  its  earliest  environ- 
ment for  good  or  ill. 

What  inference  must  be  drawn  from  this?  That 
the  ceremonies  and  rites  of  religion  should  be  forced 
upon  the  unconscious  child?  Far  from  it.  The 
proper  inference  is,  let  the  family  life  carefully  and 
jealously  protect  the  child  against  premature  action 
here.  Do  not  stifle  the  child's  religious  life  with 
burdens  it  cannot  bear.  Guard  it  from  the  perils  of 
the  organic  unity  of  the  family,  as  well  as  expose 
it  to  the  blessings. 

Church  and  Family  are  Distinct, 

A  second  principle  of  Christian  nurture  is  that 
the  distinction  between  the  church  and  the  family 
must  be  kept  intact.  The  church  implies  personal 
relations  between  actual  individuals  and  Christ,  not 
potential  individuals  thrust  into  fictitious  relations 
with  Christ  as  in  infant  baptism.  We  may  assume 
that  the  child  will  become  a  Christian,  but  we  dare 
not  assume  that  he  is  a  Christian  prior  to  his  own 
choice. 

This  leads  to  the  third  law  of  Christian  nurture, 
viz.,  that  it  must  respect  human  personality.  Let 
there  be  a  recognition  of  the  fact  that  in  its  earher 


CHRISTIAN    NURTURE  175 

Stages  the  child  is  but  a  candidate  for  personality, 
and  not  a  developed  person,  and  let  the  nurture  cor- 
respond to  the  stage  of  development.  The  Baptist 
view  of  Christian  nurture  accords  with  modern  peda- 
gogy in  its  best  conclusions.  As  we  shall  see  in 
a  later  chapter,  the  best  pedagogy  ever  respects  per- 
sonality, seeks  to  call  forth  the  latent  powers  of  the 
soul,  and  jealously  guards  the  nature  of  the  child 
from  premature  forcing. 

Now,  baptism  belongs  to  the  stage  of  intelligence 
and  personality,  to  the  stage  of  tuitional  influences, 
and  not  to  the  stage  of  unconscious  impressions. 
There  is  no  way  to  understand  New  Testament 
baptism  save  as  the  personal  choice  of  the  individual. 
To  apply  it  therefore  to  the  child  in  the  earliest  stage 
of  unconscious  impressions  is  premature,  like  re- 
quiring a  child  to  read  the  "  Anabasis  "  before  it  has 
mastered  the  Greek  alphabet.  Infant  baptism  is  like 
requiring  the  mastery  of  algebraic  symbols  before 
the  boy  has  learned  the  multiplication  table.  Infant 
baptism,  in  other  words,  is  based  on  unsound  peda- 
gogy. Doctor  Bushnell's  general  view  on  this  point 
is  directly  against  sound  principles  of  pedagogy.  He 
has  much  to  say  regarding  potential  regeneration 
in  infant  baptism,  presumptive  individuality  in  ap- 
plying this  ordinance  to  non-intelligent  babes.  In 
so  doing,  however,  he  advocates  that  which  is  con- 
tradictory and  unreasonable.  A  babe  is  a  presump- 
tive walker,  but  it  is  dressed  in  long  clothes  and  its 
feet  left  bare  usually  in  the  earliest  months,  both  of 


176  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

which  would  impede  it  in  the  attempt  to  accompUsh 
great  things  in  locomotion.  The  babe  in  the 
mother's  arms  is  a  presumptive  citizen,  a  potential 
voter,  but  the  State  never  puts  the  ballot  in  the  hand 
of  babes.  Now,  in  a  real  sense  baptism  is  the  ballot 
of  the  kingdom  of  God.  It  is  the  outward  act 
which  the  citizen  of  that  kingdom  first  performs  to 
proclaim  his  citizenship  therein.  Therefore  Chris- 
tian nurture  must  respect  personality. 

Natural    and  Spiritual  Heredity. 

A  fourth  point  to  be  emphasized  in  Christian 
nurture  is  the  distinction  between  natural  and  spirit- 
ual heredity.  Natural  heredity  connects  us  with 
Adam  through  the  physical  bond.  Spiritual  heredity 
connects  us  with  Christ  through  the  mediation  of 
teachers  and  preachers.  Now,  there  is  a  revealed 
method  by  which  the  soul  becomes  personally  related 
to  Christ  and  a  partaker  of  the  spiritual  heredity. 
This  includes  the  attitude  of  faith,  of  repentance, 
the  recognition  of  God  as  Father  and  Christ  as 
Saviour.  Much  is  said  in  favor  of  the  child's  be- 
coming unconsciously  a  Christian.  But  the  child 
should  become  consciously  a  Christian  also.  Doubt- 
less there  are  those  who  are  genuine  Christians  who 
do  not  remember  the  time  and  place  of  their  con- 
version, but  unless  they  carry  consciously  the  ele- 
ments of  the  relationship  necessary  to  the  Christian 
life,  they  are  sadly  deprived.  It  is  urged  that  chil- 
dren should  not  have  a  sense  of  sin.    It  is  true  that 


CHRISTIAN    NURTURE  I77 

we  should  not  require  of  them  the  same  kind  of  con- 
viction for  sin  that  the  hardened  sinner  has,  but  if 
the  child  grows  up  destitute  of  the  sense  of  ill 
desert  and  demerit,  its  moral  character  is  defective. 
This  consciousness  of  sin  is  the  mainspring  of 
growth.  It  is  proper  to  every  man,  every  woman, 
and  every  child  at  the  proper  age.  In  its  absence 
the  tendency  becomes  marked  towards  self-com- 
placency. 

We  should  not  impose  our  molds  upon  children. 
There  are  four  of  these  molds  to  be  avoided.  One 
is  experimental.  We  should  not  insist  that  the 
child  have  an  experience  identical  in  detail  with  the 
adult.  Another  is  the  intellectual  mold.  We  should 
not  insist  that  the  child  be  able  to  give  the  same  ex- 
haustive account  of  his  Christian  life  as  the  older 
person.  The  elements  will  be  there,  but  frequently 
the  child  is  unable  to  state  them  completely.  Again, 
we  should  avoid  imposing  a  theological  mold  upon 
the  child,  or  rather,  substituting  a  theological  mold 
for  vital  faith.  It  is  not  difficult  for  a  bright  child 
to  learn  the  catechism,  but  knowing  the  catechism 
is  not  knowing  Christ.  And  finally,  we  should  not 
impose  the  ceremonial  mold.  Baptism  is  entirely 
out  of  place  for  a  child  before  it  has  reached  the 
age  of  understanding.  Otherwise,  it  becomes  a 
mere  mold  into  which  we  seek  to  force  the  child's 
nature.  Apply  all  these  means  of  nurture  as  the 
child  is  able  to  receive  them.  But  there  must  be 
response  on  the  part  of  the  child,  not  compulsion. 

M 


1/8  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 


Elements  of  Christian  Life  the  Same. 

When  all  is  said,  however,  it  remains  true  that 
the  elements  of  the  Christian  life  are  the  same  in 
the  child  as  in  the  adult.  There  is  variation,  of 
course.  In  some  cases  one  aspect  of  the  spiritual  ex- 
perience is  emphasized,  and  in  others  other  aspects. 
The  elements  are  the  same.  A  child  may  become 
a  Christian  so  early  as  scarcely  to  know  the  grosser 
forms  of  sin.  Nevertheless,  the  sense  of  demerit 
and  shortcoming  is  a  necessary  element  in  a  rounded 
spiritual  character.  The  difference,  therefore,  be- 
tween the  conversion  of  a  child  and  an  adult  is  one 
of  degree,  not  of  kind.  One  seed  may  be  planted 
in  good  soil,  with  the  right  environment  and  be 
subject  to  wise  cultivation  until  it  bursts  and  roots 
itself  firmly  and  springs  upward  to  fruitage. 
Another  seed  may  fall  in  scanty  soil  upon  a  stone,  be 
subject  to  the  elements,  and  yet  swell  until  it  bursts, 
striking  its  root  downward,  rending  the  stone  and 
drawing  nourishment  from  the  soil  below,  while  it 
springs  upward  also  and  bears  fruit.  Now,  the  life 
process  in  the  seed  is  the  same  in  both  cases,  only 
in  the  latter  case  the  process  was  more  violent. 
Such  is  the  difference  between  the  conversion  of 
children  and  men.  It  is  a  difference  easily  recog- 
nized and  important. 

A  child  may  be  said  to  be  converted  when  there  is 
recognized  the  presence  in  the  child  of  a  perma- 
nent Christian  motive  and  struggle.     Observe  that 


CHRISTIAN    NURTURE  1 79 

the  motive  is  to  be  Christian,  and  it  is  to  be  abid- 
ing. We  are  to  look  not  so  much  for  attainment  as 
for  struggle.  These  two  elements — the  Christian 
motive  and  the  Christian  struggle — when  they  ap- 
pear as  permanent  in  the  child's  life,  are  sure  indi- 
cations that  Christ  has  come  into  that  life. 

The  Old  and  New  Covenants. 

We  must  recognize  in  the  next  place  in  our 
Christian  nurture,  the  distinction  between  the  old 
and  the  new  covenant.  Writers  who  advocate  in- 
fant baptism  uniformly  go  back  to  the  Mosaic  sys- 
tem and  plead  the  solidarity  of  Israel  and  the 
theocracy.  They  forget  the  vital  distinctions  be- 
tween the  church  and  theocracy.  The  common- 
wealth of  Israel  was  localized;  the  church  is  a 
universal  institution.  Israel  was  maintained  by 
positive  laws  and  outward  ceremonies ;  the  church 
through  spiritual  laws.  Israel  was  preserved 
through  the  organic  physical  bond  and  family  ties, 
the  church  through  the  spiritual.  One  needs  only 
to  recall  the  strong  language  of  Jesus  concerning 
the  individual  in  relation  to  family  and  friends  to 
recognize  how  far  Christianity  is  from  Judaism.  A 
man's  foes  shall  be  they  of  his  own  household.  The 
Christian  must  forsake  father  and  mother,  sister 
and  brother,  if  need  be,  in  order  to  follow  Christ. 
Much  is  made  also  by  those  who  advocate  infant 
baptism  of  the  fact  that  in  the  first  chapter  of  Acts 
the  promise  is  announced  to  the  hearers  and  to  their 


l80  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

children.  The  point  is  made  that  infants  are  in- 
cluded in  the  promise  under  the  gospel  because 
children  are  named.  Doubtless  the  reference  is  to 
descendants  rather  than  to  little  children,  though  of 
course  children  are  included  in  so  far  as  they  are 
able  to  accept  and  partake  of  the  blessings  of  the 
gospel. 

But  these  advocates  forget  the  sharp  contrast 
which  is  made  between  the  old  and  the  new  covenant 
in  the  eighth  chapter  of  Hebrews.  In  the  eleventh 
verse  of  that  chapter  the  statement  is  made  that 
"  they  shall  not  teach  every  man  his  neighbor,  and 
every  man  his  brother,  saying,  Know  the  Lord : 
for  all  shall  know  me,  from  the  least  to  the  greatest." 
Here  we  have  a  distinct  statement  that  there  are 
no  exceptions  in  the  kingdom  of  God  under  the  new 
covenant.  The  new  covenant  does  not  include  those 
who  know  the  Lord  and  those  who  are  unconscious 
infants  and  cannot  know  him.  And  this  simply 
makes  clear  the  fact  that  the  kingdom  of  God,  as 
revealed  by  Christ,  is  not  a  kingdom  of  heredity  or  a 
kingdom  of  magic,  but  a  kingdom  of  truth.  With 
gladness  Baptists  obey  Christ's  words,  "  Suffer  the 
little  children  to  come  unto  me  "  but  they  decline  to 
bring  them  to  him  by  force  while  unconscious 
infants  by  applying  religious  ceremonies  without 
meaning  save  on  the  theory  of  magical  efficacy. 
The  new  covenant  does  not  require  this.  The  new 
covenant  is  unlike  the  old  in  many  ways,  and  they 
are  not  to  be  confounded. 


CHRISTIAN    NURTURE 


The  Child  Environment. 

We  name,  as  a  further  condition  of  Christian 
nurture  that  there  should  be  created  an  environment 
of  the  child  which  will  predispose  it  to  Christ  and 
the  church.  Environment  counts  for  more  in  child- 
hood than  at  any  other  period.  There  is  no  more 
vital  element  in  the  production  of  character  in  the 
earliest  stages.  A  recent  writer  on  the  education 
of  children  has  emphasized  this  in  a  striking  way  in 
connection  with  Shakespeare.  He  shows  how 
Shakespeare's  imagery,  as  it  appears  in  his  poetic 
writings,  was  derived  largely  from  the  environ- 
ment of  his  childhood.     Take  this  verse : 

When  daisies  pied  and  violets  blue, 
And  lady  smocks,  all  silver  white, 

And  cuckoo  buds  of  yellow  hue, 
Do  paint  the  meadows  with  delight. 

In  this  verse  there  are,  of  course,  many  very 
pretty  floral  images.  Now  if  the  traveler  examine 
closely  the  meadows  about  Stratford  where  Shakes- 
peare was  a  boy,  he  will  find  these  flowers  growing 
to-day.  Shakespeare  had  poetic  genius,  but  his 
genius  required  material  to  work  upon,  just  as  a 
fire  requires  fuel  to  maintain  it.  The  environment 
of  childhood  helped  to  make  the  poet  Shakespeare. 
If  we  surround  our  children  with  the  fadeless 
flowers  of  spiritual  truth;  if  the  home  life  is  sweet 
and  Christly;  if  patience  and  gentleness  and  love. 


l82  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

combined  with  firmness  and  discipline  and  high 
purpose,  are  the  traits  of  character  discerned  by  the 
child  in  the  parent,  there  is  strong  probability  that 
they  will  be  reproduced  in  him. 

That  is  a  striking  picture  in  the  Gospel  of  Luke 
where  Jesus  as  a  boy  of  twelve,  upon  the  occasion 
of  his  first  visit  to  the  temple,  is  held  spellbound 
amid  its  scenes.  For  the  first  time  the  great  and 
wondrous  significance  of  the  Jewish  system  fell 
upon  the  sensitive  soul  of  Jesus.  All  of  it  had  a 
symbolic  reference  to  his  own  person  and  mission. 
Doubtless  there  was  an  awakening  in  his  soul,  a 
calling  forth  thus  of  the  powers  that  were  in  him, 
and  a  quickening  into  a  new  sense  of  his  mission 
and  destiny.  Environment  lifted  him  to  a  new  stage 
in  his  career  under  God's  blessing.  Even  so  should 
it  be  with  childhood  ever — expose  the  soul  of  the 
child  to  the  truth,  surround  it  with  every  incentive 
to  holy  living,  permit  it  to  respond  to  grace  in  the 
home  circle. 

A  Final  Suggestion. 

A  final  suggestion  for  Christian  nurture  is  that 
all  the  elements  of  Christian  character  be  brought 
into  the  conscious  experience  of  the  child  at  the 
earliest  possible  moment.  Let  religion  take  its 
proper  form  of  personal  experience.  Art  is  the 
response  of  man's  soul  to  beauty.  Science  is  his 
response  to  truth.  Religion  is  the  response  of  the 
soul  of  man  to  God  and  righteousness.    Let  not  the 


CHRISTIAN    NURTURE  183 

ordinances  of  religion  be  applied  before  the  capacity 
for  response  is  present,  but  let  truth  and  piety  be- 
come the  enveloping  atmosphere  of  the  child's  life — 
its  spiritual  universe,  so  to  speak — until  it  responds 
thereto.  As  physical  nature  calls  forth  the  interest 
and  the  effort  of  the  child,  as  the  beautiful  sky  above 
attracts  his  steadfast  gaze,  as  the  stars  that  stud  it 
at  night  kindle  his  imagination,  as  trees  and  moun- 
tains and  rivers,  as  pebbles  and  brooks  and  flowers, 
call  forth  his  nature  and  stir  it  into  new  energy,  so 
let  the  truths  of  Christianity,  the  fact  of  God's 
fatherhood  and  Christ's  saviourhood,  of  beautiful 
Christian  character,  and  of  eternal  life,  stand  out  as 
the  objects  of  his  spiritual  world,  warming  him  into 
life,  and  under  God's  blessing  leading  him  out  into 
the  Christian  profession.  When  the  mind  is  suf- 
ficiently advanced  to  grasp  the  significance  of  the 
church,  the  ordinances,  the  doctrines,  let  these  be 
interpreted,  and  let  there  flow  into  his  soul  the  tide 
of  joy  and  peace  which  comes  from  a  recognition 
of  the  meaning  of  these  things.  But  in  all  this  let 
vital  individual  faith  in  Christ  be  recognized  as  the 
basic  fact. 

Unquestionably  childhood  is  the  strategic  point 
in  Christian  culture,  and  in  all  our  religious  bodies 
increasing  attention  should  be  given  to  this  great 
theme.  A  modern  poet  has  symbolized  the  beauty 
of  the  task  of  training  the  child.  Browning  has  a 
little  poem  in  which  he  describes  a  picture.  The 
picture  attracts  the  attention  of  the  beholder  because 


184  THE   AXIOxMS   OF   RELIGION 

an  angel  is  seen  close  to  a  tomb  engaged  intently  in 
some  task  which  at  first  does  not  appear.  Over- 
head the  heavens  are  opened,  and  angelic  hands 
beckon  the  angel  upward.  On  the  horizon  earthly 
enterprises  loom  large  and  beckon  the  angel  to  them, 
but  he  remains  unheeding,  busily  engaged  in  some 
great  task.  As  the  beholder  looks  closely  he  dis- 
covers by  the  side  of  the  angel  a  little  child,  kneel- 
ing, with  folded  hands  and  closed  eyes  and  uplifted 
face.  There  is  no  higher  task  for  angels  or  men 
than  to  teach  a  little  child  to  pray. 


CHAPTER  XI 

the  religio-civic  axiom  :  a  free  church  in  a 
free  state 

Relations  Between  Church  and  State. 

The  religio-civic  axiom  which  states  the  Ameri- 
can principle  of  the  relations  between  Church  and 
State  is  so  well  understood  and  is  accepted  by  the 
people  of  the  United  States  so  generally  and  so 
heartily  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  spend  time  in 
pointing  out  at  length  what  the  axiom  implies.  Mr. 
Bryce  in  his  "  American  Commonwealth  "  remarks  : 
"  It  is  accepted  as  an  axiom  by  all  Americans  that 
the  civil  power  ought  to  be  not  only  neutral  and  im- 
partial as  between  entirely  different  forms  of  faith, 
but  ought  to  leave  these  matters  entirely  on  one  side, 
regarding  them  no  more  than  they  regard  the  artis- 
tic or  literary  pursuits  of  the  citizens."  ^  In  short 
the  entire  contents  of  the  axiom  is  summed  up  in  the 
statement  that  the  State  has  no  ecclesiastical  and  the 
Church  no  civic  function.  Mr.  Bryce  also  says: 
"  Of  all  the  differences  between  the  Old  World  and 
the  New  this  is  perhaps  the  most  salient.  Half  the 
wars  of  Europe,  half  the  internal  troubles  that  have 
vexed  European  States,  from  the  Monophysite  con- 
troversies in  the  Roman  empire  of  the  fifth  century 

*  "  American  Commonwealth,"  Vol.  II,  pp.  572.  573- 

185 


l86  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

down  to  the  Kulturkampf  in  the  German  empire  of 
the  ninenteenth,  have  arisen  from  theological  dif- 
ferences or  from  the  rival  claims  of  Church  and 
State."  ^  In  this  connection  also  I  give  a  state- 
ment from  Buckle.  He  says  in  his  "  History  of 
Civilization " :  "  During  almost  a  hundred  and 
fifty  years,  Europe  was  afflicted  by  religious  wars, 
religious  massacres,  and  religious  persecutions; 
not  one  of  which  would  have  arisen  if  the  great 
truth  had  been  recognized  that  the  State  has  no 
concern  with  the  opinions  of  men,  and  no  right 
to  interfere  even  in  the  slightest  degree  with 
the  form  of  worship  which  they  may  choose  to 
adopt.  This  principle  was,  however,  formerly  un- 
known or  at  all  events  unheeded;  and  it  was  not 
until  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century  that  the 
great  religious  contests  were  brought  to  a  final  close 
and  the  different  countries  settled  down  to  their  pub- 
lic creeds."  ^  Such  quotations  might  be  indefinitely 
multiplied,  but  it  is  needless.  Neither  of  the  writers 
quoted  is  an  American,  and  yet  each  states  the  princi- 
ple in  a  manner  which  is  in  complete  unison  with  our 
way  of  regarding  the  matter.  For  many  centuries  the 
struggle  between  Church  and  State  was  an  unequal 
one.  By  a  sort  of  spiritual  instinct  the  church 
tugged  at  her  chains  with  various  movements  of 
protest  against  the  English  and  European  establish- 
ments.    It  was  like  the  struggle  between  the  eagle 

*  "  American  Commonwealth,"  Vol.  II,  p.  570. 
'"History  of  Civilization,"  Vol.  I,  p.    190. 


THE  RELIGIO-CIVIC  AXIOM  187 

and  the  serpent.  The  church,  as  the  eagle  in  the 
contest,  was  sometimes  dragged  down  into  the  dust 
by  the  foe.  Again,  with  the  serpent's  sinewy  coils 
about  her  body  she  would  rise  heavily  into  the  air 
only  to  be  dragged  downward  again.  At  length 
the  eagle,  with  beak  and  talons  dripping  with  the 
blood  of  her  slain  foe,  mounts  upward  and  builds 
her  nest  on  a  lofty  crag  forever  beyond  the  serpent's 
reach.  This  was  when  Roger  Williams  founded  the 
commonwealth  of  Rhode  Island.  A  new  era  in  man's 
spiritual  history  began  then. 

The  leadership  of  the  Baptists  of  Rhode  Island 
and  Virginia  in  introducing  the  doctrine  of  com- 
plete separation  of  Church  and  State  has  already 
been  pointed  out  in  a  previous  chapter.  Indeed  two 
great  conceptions  were  formally  promulgated  by 
the  Baptists  of  the  seventeenth  century  in  their 
creeds  and  Confessions,  which  in  a  striking  manner 
show  that  they  were  far  in  advance  of  Christendom 
in  general  in  their  views  as  to  the  essential  nature 
of  Christianity.  One  of  these  is  the  doctrine  of 
world-wide  missions,  which  is  absent  from  the  West- 
minster and  other  creeds  of  the  period.  It  is  a  well- 
known  fact  that  Christendom  at  large  was  appar- 
ently dead  to  this  great  obligation  until  William 
Carey  aroused  it.  Yet  in  their  "  Confession  of 
Faith,"  issued  by  churches  in  and  around  London 
in  1660,  the  Baptists  of  England  promulgated 
the  doctrine  and  obligation  of  world-wide  missions 
as  we  shall  see  in  a  later  chapter. 


THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 


Another  Great  Baptist  Principle. 

But  we  are  here  more  directly  interested  in  the 
other  great  Baptist  principle  in  which  they  ante- 
dated others.  Their  view  of  soul  freedom  and  sepa- 
ration of  Church  and  State  they  promulgated  in 
their  earliest  known  creeds  and  their  practice  has 
never  parted  company  with  their  doctrine.  We 
find  the  following  in  the  "  London  Confession," 
published  in  1644.  After  declaring  the  duty  of 
obedience  to  magistrates  and  all  legally  constituted 
authorities  in  all  things  lawful  the  Confession  in 
the  forty-ninth  article  says :  "  But  in  case  we  find 
not  the  magistrate  to  favor  us  herein,  yet  we  dare 
not  suspend  our  practice  because  we  believe  we 
ought  to  go  on  in  obedience  to  Christ,  in  professing 
the  faith  which  is  declared  in  the  holy  Scriptures 
and  this  our  confession  of  faith  a  part  of  them ;  and 
that  we  are  to  witness  to  the  truth  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament  unto  the  death  if  necessity  require, 
in  the  midst  of  trials  and  afflictions,  as  his  saints  of 
old  have  done,"  etc.^  In  the  next  article  it  is  de- 
clared that  it  is  lawful  for  a  Christian  to  be  a  magis- 
trate and  to  take  oaths.  Under  the  forty-eighth 
article  the  following  language  occurs :  "  As  we  can- 
not do  anything  contrary  to  our  understandings  and 
consciences,  so  neither  can  we  forbear  the  doing  of 
that  which  our  understandings  and  consciences  bind 
us  to  do ;  and  if  the  magistrate  should  require  us  to 

'  Underbill:  "  Confession  of  Faith,"  pp.  45,  46. 


THE  RELIGIO-CIVIC  AXIOM  189 

do  Otherwise,  we  are  to  yield  our  persons  in  a  passive 
way  to  their  power,  as  the  saints  of  old  have  done."  ^ 

Of  like  tenor  with  the  above  are  all  the  Baptist 
creeds.  There  has  never  been  a  time  in  their  his- 
tory, so  far  as  that  history  is  known  to  us,  when 
they  wavered  in  their  doctrine  of  a  free  Church 
in  a  free  State.  Nowhere  in  the  American  colo- 
nies before  the  Revolution,  save  in  Rhode  Island 
and  among  Virginia  Baptists  and  in  a  few  great 
minds  such  as  Madison  and  others  like  him,  had  this 
novel  and  far-reaching  conception  taken  root.  Men 
in  general  regarded  the  separation  of  Church  and 
State  as  a  doctrine  of  anarchy  and  chaos,  and  hon- 
estly believed  that  its  practical  application  would 
quench  the  sun  of  religion  in  the  heaven  of  man's 
spiritual  hopes. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  to  be  noted  in  this  connec- 
tion, that  many  writers  of  great  intelligence  in  other 
respects  even  to-day  fail  to  grasp  clearly  the  distinc- 
tion between  religious  toleration  and  religious  free- 
dom. Doctor  Bacon  in  his  "  History  of  American 
Christianity  "  falls  into  the  common  error  of  refer- 
ring to  the  Maryland  colony  under  the  Calverts  as 
an  example  of  religious  liberty ;  whereas  all  who  are 
familiar  with  the  distinction  know  that  in  Mary- 
land not  religious  liberty  in  the  modern  sense  and 
in  the  ancient  Baptist  sense,  but  only  toleration  was 
enjoyed.  We  find  the  same  error  in  an  address  so 
recent  as  that  of  one  of  the  speakers  at  the  Con- 

*  Underbill,  p.  45. 


190  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

gress  of  Arts  and  Science  in  St.  Louis.  Americans 
of  to-day  would  no  more  rest  content  under  a  sys- 
tem of  mere  religious  toleration  than  they  were 
willing  to  endure  taxation  without  representation 
under  George  the  Third. 

English  Wrestling  With  the  Problem. 

It  is  instructive  to  observe  how  the  English 
people  have  wrestled  with  the  problem  of  the  rela- 
tions of  Church  and  State.  Of  course  the  Noncon- 
formist bodies  have  solved  the  problem  for  them- 
selves on  its  theoretical  side,  although  in  recent  years 
they  have  been  called  upon  to  wage  a  noble  war  of 
passive  resistance  against  an  oppressive  education 
act.  The  English  Nonconformists  in  this  matter  are 
in  line  with  their  best  traditions  as  descendants  of 
the  freedom-loving  Anglo-Saxons. 

Many  English  writers  who  favor  an  established 
church  have  sought  to  justify  it  on  various  grounds. 
A  glance  at  these  theories  will  prepare  us  to  con- 
sider briefly  the  theoretical  grounds  for  our  Ameri- 
can principle. 

The  principle  known  as  Erastianism  has  for  a 
long  time  exerted  a  powerful  influence  over  English 
thinking  on  the  subject.  This  view  asserts  that  the 
Church  as  such  has  no  governing  power.  A  part 
of  the  function  of  the  State  is  to  govern  the  Church. 

Hooker  maintained  that  in  any  country,  Church 
and  State  are  to  be  regarded  not  as  two  societies 
but  as  one.     This  one  organization  viewed  on  its 


THE  RELIGIO-CIVIC  AXIOM  I9I 

temporal  side  is  the  commonwealth,  on  its  ecclesias- 
tical it  is  the  church.  Warburton  took  the  position 
that  while  the  Church  and  State  were  originally 
separate  and  independent  they  entered  into  an  alli- 
ance and  formed  a  union  by  contract,  with  condi- 
tions on  each  side.  Coleridge  distinguished  between 
the  national  and  the  visible  church  of  Christ.  The 
national  church  is  the  general  community  with 
officers  who  are  partly  civil  and  partly  ecclesiastical, 
while  the  visible  church  is  a  spiritual  kingdom  not 
of  this  world,  self-governing  and  self-supporting. 
Gladstone  advocated  a  view  of  the  State  like  that 
proclaimed  by  Milton  that  the  State  is  a  "  gigantic 
moral  person."  Gladstone  asserted  that  as  a  moral 
person  the  State  is  bound  to  act  in  the  name  of 
Christ  for  God's  glory,  and  that  the  promotion  of 
religion  is  the  chief  end  in  government.  Macaulay 
replied  to  Gladstone  that  the  State  has  no  such  in- 
herent or  inalienable  function.  Government  is  pri- 
marily for  the  protection  of  life  and  property,  urged 
Macaulay,  and  it  is  no  more  bound  to  promote  re- 
ligion directly  than  a  life  insurance  company  is  so 
bound.  But  Macaulay  held  that  the  State  may  use 
religion  for  its  own  ends,  especially  education. 
Chalmers,  in  Scotland,  maintained  that  the  State 
should  foster  some  one  denomination  on  the  ground 
of  the  truth  held,  if  possible,  and  if  not  on  this,  then 
on  some  other  ground.  For  only  thus  could  Chris- 
tianity exert  its  proper  influence  over  men.  The 
idea  seemed  ingrained  in  the  English  mind. 


192  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

Canon  Fremantle  in  his  work  "  The  World  the 
Subject  of  Redemption  "  maintains  the  theory  of 
Christian  Nationalism.  In  contrast  with  the  limited 
view  of  the  church  as  concerned  chiefly  with  wor- 
ship and  dogma  Fremantle  says :  "  The  church  will 
be  here  presented  as  the  social  State  in  which 
the  Spirit  of  Christ  reigns;  as  embracing  the  gen- 
eral life  and  society  of  man,  and  identifying  itself 
with  these  as  much  as  possible ;  as  having  for  its  ob- 
ject to  imbue  all  human  relations  with  the  spirit  of 
Christ's  self-renouncing  love,  and  thus  to  change  the 
world  into  a  kingdom  of  God."  ^  The  means  for 
the  realization  of  this  programme  of  Christianity 
is  to  be  found  in  Christian  Nationalism.  The  state- 
ment of  Fremantle's  view  of  the  relations  between 
Church  and  State  is  as  follows :  "  The  principle 
of  the  royal  supremacy  means  that  the  Christian 
community  as  a  whole,  represented  by  its  sovereign, 
is  to  be  supreme  over  all  its  parts."  ^  The  Church  is 
regarded  as  a  subordinate  part  of  the  State  and  as 
necessarily  falling  under  its  jurisdiction.  Fre- 
mantle's general  theory  is  a  singular  attempt  to 
unite  an  antiquated  conception  of  the  relations  of 
Church  and  State  with  a  very  modern  view  as  to  the 
aims  of  the  Church.  It  is  like  cutting  off  the  head  of 
the  Bartholdi  Statue  of  Liberty  in  New  York  har- 
bor and  attaching  it  to  the  trunk  of  the  Egyptian 
sphinx. 

*  "  The  World  the  Subject  of  Redemption,"  pp.  i,  7,  8. 
»Ibid..  p.  214. 


the  religio-civic  axiom  i93 

Four  Leading  Considerations. 

Now  it  is  clear  to  the  student  of  English  theory 
on  the  subject  of  the  relations  between  Church  and 
State  that  four  leading  considerations  have  affected 
English  thinkers  in  their  persistent  efforts  to  jus- 
tify an  establishment  of  religion  under  government. 
The  first  is  tradition  and  the  conservative  tendency 
of  the  human  mind.  The  English  church  zvas  estab- 
lished, therefore  it  ought  to  be  established.  For- 
tunately in  America  we  had  no  such  longstanding 
institution  under  national  patronage  to  fetter  our 
thinking  when  we  organized  the  present  govern- 
ment. The  second  consideration  was  moral.  Eng- 
lishmen felt  that  government  is  for  moral  ends. 
They  were  little  influenced  by  Rousseau's  social  con- 
tract theory  of  government.  If  the  government  is 
for  moral  ends  it  is  closely  akin  to  religion  in  its 
function  and  purpose.  Religion  indeed  is  the  best 
instrument  for  the  realization  and  accomplishment 
of  moral  ends.  Hence  Church  and  State  should  be 
one,  with  the  church  subordinate  as  a  part  of  the 
larger  whole. 

The  third  consideration  was  the  objection  to  a 
dualistic  conception  of  human  society.  A  free 
Church  in  a  free  State  seemed  to  Englishmen  like 
two  nations  trying  to  occupy  the  same  territory  at 
the  same  time.  Fremantle's  view  seems  to  have 
grown  out  of  some  such  considerations  as  the  above 
along  with  a  fourth,  viz. :  that  Christ's  kingdom  is 
N 


194  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

destined  to  embrace  all  life.  Thus  from  the  political 
side  and  from  the  religious  it  seemed  incongruous 
and  absurd  for  two  sovereignties  to  attempt  to  exist 
side  by  side  on  the  same  ground  and  among  the 
same  people. 

The  American  theory  of  Church  and  State  which 
the  prophetic  soul  of  Roger  Williams  discerned 
clearly  in  the  early  seventeenth  century,  which  the 
English  Baptists  also  grasped  and  put  into  formal 
statement  a  little  later  in  the  same  century,  which 
Virginia  Baptists  championed  against  the  established 
church  in  the  eighteenth  century,  and  which  through 
their  influence  came  to  full  expression  in  the  first 
amendment  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
is  in  all  respects  opposed  to  the  English  and  Euro- 
pean theory.  We  thus  make  a  real  contribution  to 
the  world's  civilization. 

Americans  do  not  deny  that  the  ends  for  which 
government  exists  are  moral,  but  they  do  deny 
that  those  ends  are  religious.  Mr.  Bryce  is  scarcely 
correct  in  the  statement  that  our  view  regards  the 
general  government  simply  as  a  great  business 
organization  created  by  the  people  for  certain  speci- 
fied purposes  which  do  not  include  matters  of  the 
church  or  religion.  While  Americans  have  spent 
little  time  in  theorizing  about  the  nature  of  the 
State  I  think  it  is  a  fair  inference  from  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  that  in  the  main  they  regard 
our  Constitution  as  grounded  in  essential  moral 
principles,  and  that  ultimately  government  is  the 


THE  RELIGIO-CIVIC  AXIOM  I95 

expression  of  moral  relations  which  necessarily  exist 
in  human  society  and  created  by  God.^ 

It  does  not  follow,  however,  that  because  an  insti- 
tution is  the  expression  of  moral  relations  in  one 
sphere  that  it  is  meant  to  promote  moral  ends  in  all 
spheres.  Church  and  State  might  in  a  perfect  society 
coalesce  into  one ;  but  meantime  their  functions  must 
be  kept  separate.  Specialization  is  the  law  of  their 
harmonious  and  healthful  operation  as  society  is  to- 
day. In  his  reply  to  Gladstone  on  Church  and 
State  Macaulay  put  the  case  graphically.  Said  he: 
"  It  is  of  much  more  importance  that  the  knowledge 
of  religious  truth  should  be  widely  diffused  than 
that  the  art  of  sculpture  should  flourish  among  us. 
Yet  it  by  no  means  follows  that  the  Royal  Academy 
ought  to  unite  with  its  present  functions  those  of 
the  Society  for  promoting  Christian  knowledge,  to 
distribute  theological  tracts,  to  send  forth  mission- 
aries, turn  out  Nollekens  for  being  a  Catholic,  Ba- 
con for  being  a  Methodist,  and  Flaxman  for  being  a 
Swedenborgian.  For  the  eflfect  of  such  folly  would 
be  that  we  should  have  the  worst  possible  academy 
of  arts,  and  the  worst  possible  Society  for  the  Pro- 
motion of  Christian  Knowledge."  The  same  princi- 
ple applies  to  the  relations  of  Church  and  State. 

Functions  of  Church  and  State  Distinct. 

The  functions  of  Church  and  State  are  quite 
distinct.     The  American  view  is  based  on  funda- 

•  Cf.  Newman  Smyth's  "  Christian  Ethics,"  pp.  z^zi. 


196  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

mental  facts  of  human  society  and  of  the  gospel. 
The  Church  is  a  voluntary  organization,  the  State 
compels  obedience.  One  organization  is  temporal, 
the  other  spiritual.  Their  views  as  to  penal  offenses 
may  be  quite  different,  that  being  wrong  and 
punishable  in  the  Church  which  the  State  cannot 
afford  to  notice.  The  direct  allegiance  in  the 
Church  is  to  God,  in  the  State  it  is  to  law  and 
government.  One  is  for  the  protection  of  life  and 
property,  the  other  for  the  promotion  of  spiritual  life. 
An  established  religion,  moreover,  subverts  the  prin- 
ciple of  equal  rights  and  equal  privileges  to  all  which 
is  a  part  of  our  organic  law.  Both  on  its  political 
and  on  its  religious  side  the  doctrine  of  the  separa- 
tion of  Church  and  State  holds  good.  Civil  liberty 
and  soul  liberty  alike  forbid  their  union.  As  Dr. 
Newman  Smyth  remarks :  "  History  has  perma- 
nently closed  these  two  ways — the  way  of  bringing 
Christ  before  the  judgment  seat  of  Caesar  to  be 
crucified,  and  the  way  of  putting  Christ  on  Caesar's 
throne  to  rule  the  kingdoms  of  this  world." 

Now  it  is  important  to  keep  in  mind  the  mean- 
ing of  the  phrase  "  a  free  Church  in  a  free  State," 
if  we  are  to  avoid  confusion  in  thought  at  certain 
points  in  our  practical  application  of  the  principle. 
If  at  any  point,  such  as  the  legal  holding  of  prop- 
erty, the  functions  of  the  church  carry  it  over  into 
the  civil  realm,  then  we  must  construe  such  function 
as  properly  pertaining  to  the  church  and  vice  versa. 
But  this  does  not  destroy  the  freedom  of  either 


THE  RELIGIO-CIVIC  AXIOM  I97 

Church  or  State.  The  Church  is  compatible  with 
the  State  but  entirely  independent  of  it.  That  is 
to  say,  it  is  free.  It  is  a  spiritual  commonwealth. 
The  citizenship  of  its  members  is  in  heaven,  as 
Paul  declares,  although  at  the  same  time  they  are 
citizens  of  an  earthly  State.  There  will,  of  course, 
remain  a  borderland  where  it  will  not  always  be 
clear  how  to  discriminate  and  apply  the  principle 
correctly. 

Important  Illustrations  of  Statement  Made. 

We  may  note  before  closing  this  chapter  two  or 
three  illustrations  of  the  statement  made.  One  is 
the  appropriation  of  public  money  for  sectarian 
schools.  This  is  a  flagrant  violation  of  the  prin- 
ciple and  is  a  long  step  toward  the  establishment 
of  one  or  more  denominations  in  governmental 
support.  Direct  gifts  of  money  to  religious  bodies 
by  the  general  government  is  of  the  essence  of  union 
of  Church  and  State.  It  is  not  surprising,  there- 
fore, that  it  was  when  a  Baptist,  General  Morgan, 
was  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  that  this  gov- 
ernment, under  his  leadership,  abandoned  the  prac- 
tice of  appropriating  money  for  sectarian  schools. 

As  to  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools  also  there  has 
been  much  difference  of  opinion  among  Americans. 
Baptists  very  generally  and  consistently  oppose  the 
public  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools,  because 
they  respect  the  consciences  of  all  others.  The  un- 
derlying question  is  a  difficult  one.     The  State,  as 


198  THE  AXIOMS  OF  RELIGION 

it  is  based  on  the  franchise,  and  as  the  franchise  im- 
pHes  intelligence,  quite  properly  provides  through 
its  educational  system  for  making  its  citizens  intelli- 
gent. Can  it  be  said  also  that  the  State,  as  it  is  based 
on  the  franchise,  and  the  franchise  implies  moral 
character,  quite  properly  provides  through  moral 
teaching  in  the  public  schools  for  making  its  citizens 
moral?  Religious  teaching  as  distinguished  from 
moral  teaching  is  of  course  excluded.  The  answer 
to  the  question  must  be  in  the  affirmative  within  cer- 
tain limits.  Moral  teaching  is  not  objectionable  even 
to  atheists.  A  moral  text-book  sufficiently  elemen- 
tary and  simple,  containing  extracts  from  other 
works  containing  wholesome  moral  teaching,  might 
be  employed  to  advantage  without  violating  any 
man's  conscience. 

The  exemption  of  church  property  from  taxation 
is  another  point  which  has  been  much  contested. 
All  religious  bodies  alike  have  enjoyed  the  privilege. 
It  has  been  defended  on  various  grounds  as  not  in- 
volving the  union  of  Church  and  State.  The  church 
enhances  the  value  of  all  other  property,  adds  to 
the  desirability  of  any  community  as  a  place  of  resi- 
dence, builds  up  our  civilization  in  many  ways,  and 
is  the  most  efficient  of  all  police  forces.  It  thus 
gives  a  quid  pro  quo  to  the  State  and  more  than 
earns  its  exemption  from  taxation.  The  governor 
of  Montana  a  few  years  ago  in  a  message  to  the 
legislature  made  a  special  request  that  all  church 
property  be  exempt  from  taxation  as  the  best  means 


THE  RELIGIO-CIVIC  AXIOM  I99 

of  advancing  the  welfare  of  the  entire  territory  and 
speeding  it  on  its  way  to  complete  civilization. 

But  others  contest  the  point.  They  maintain  that 
to  exempt  churches  from  taxation  is  to  subsidize 
religion  and  to  subsidize  religion  is  to  subvert  our 
doctrine  of  a  free  Church  in  a  free  State,  They  urge 
also  that  to  tax  church  property  would  have  a 
wholesome  effect  in  preventing  extravagance  in 
church  architecture  and  in  other  ways  would  react 
favorably  upon  religion. 

Now  unquestionably  a  theoretical  justification  can 
be  made  out  for  either  view,  for  exemption  as  well 
as  taxation.  It  runs  thus :  To  impose  a  tax  is  to 
assert  sovereignty;  but  the  State  is  not  sovereign 
over  the  Church  whose  allegiance  is  to  God  alone. 
Moreover,  to  concede  the  right  to  tax  involves  a 
concession  of  the  right  to  confiscate  upon  proper 
occasion.  Thus  the  right  to  tax  on  the  part  of  the 
State  destroys  the  freedom  of  the  Church,  so  that 
it  is  no  longer  a  free  Church  in  a  free  State. 

A  Question  of  Inteepretation- 

After  all,  however,  the  question  is  one  of  the  in- 
terpretation of  a  principle.  If  the  sovereign  State  and 
the  sovereign  Church  agree  that  a  particular  prac- 
tice capable  of  theoretical  justification  in  opposite 
directions  is  not  a  violation  of  a  general  princi- 
ple of  government  and  of  religion  then  that  inter- 
pretation must  stand.  Experience  alone  will  demon- 
strate the  wisdom  or  unwisdom  of  the  interpreta- 


THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 


tion.  Time  alone  can  give  the  final  answer  to  many 
questions.  Up  to  the  present  it  cannot  be  said  that 
time  has  demonstrated  the  unwisdom  of  exempting 
religious  property  from  taxation.  To  impose  a  tax 
on  such  property  would  be  a  deadly  blow  to  educa- 
tion as  well  as  to  religion. 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE  SOCIAL  AXIOM  :   LOVE  YOUR  NEIGHBOR  AS 
YOURSELF 

Two  truths  have  emerged  into  crystal  clearness  in 
the  thinking  of  men  under  the  influence  of  Christian 
civilization  in  modern  times.  One  is  the  worth  of 
the  individual.  The  old  Greek  and  Roman  civiliza- 
tions as  well  as  those  farther  east  never  recognized 
this  truth.  Christ  taught  it  and  made  it  current. 
Since  he  lived  it  has  been  slowly  becoming  a  part  of 
the  spiritual  wealth  of  mankind.  The  other  truth  is 
supplementary  to  the  above.  It  is  that  man  is  a 
social  being.  Monasticism  in  a  way  emphasized  the 
worth  of  the  individual  but  it  did  not  value  properly 
the  social  side  of  man's  nature, 

A  Social  Theology. 

In  recent  years  there  has  arisen  what  is  called  a 
"  social  theology."  Its  aim  is  to  supply  a  counter- 
poise to  the  excessive  individualism  of  much  of  the 
prevailing  theology.  To  be  saved  as  an  individual, 
to  be  "  in  the  ark  of  safety  "  provided  by  the  gospel, 
to  escape  from  death  and  hell,  has  often  been  the 
sum  of  Christian  teaching.  By  way  of  reaction 
men  are  demanding  a  sociological  gospel.  Some  are 
asserting  that  individualism  is  a  false  teaching  and 


THE   AXIOiMS   OF   RELIGION 


that  the  gospel  aims  primarily  at  social  results. 
Frequently  this  takes  the  form  of  an  assertion  that  a 
change  in  environment  is  all  that  is  necessary  to 
effect  a  change  in  character.  The  happy  are  the 
good.  The  way  to  make  men  good  is  to  make  them 
happy.  The  way  to  make  them  happy  is  to  make 
them  comfortable.  Good  houses  to  live  in,  good 
food  to  eat,  and  good  clothes  to  wear  are  the  sum 
total  of  the  equipment  required  to  regenerate  soci- 
ety. The  apostles  of  this  and  similar  doctrines  rail 
much  at  the  churches  for  failure  to  insist  upon 
this  view. 

The  social  sins  of  the  day  are  many  and  grievous 
it  must  be  confessed.  They  are  well  known  and 
need  not  be  dealt  with  here  at  length.  We  are  in 
sore  need  of  better  divorce  laws.  There  is  perhaps 
no  evil  which  strikes  so  directly  at  the  vitals  of 
any  civilization  as  that  which  corrupts  the  family 
and  home  life.  This  condition  is  a  marked  character- 
istic of  decadent  nations  in  nearly  every  instance. 
The  prevalence  of  graft  in  business  and  in  politics 
is  only  too  well  known  in  America  to-day.  Stu- 
dents of  our  social  and  political  life  from  the  out- 
side, like  Mr.  Bryce  and  others,  seem  most  of  all 
struck  with  the  absorption  of  our  people  in  money- 
getting.  The  money-getter  is  the  American  hero. 
Failure  and  success  in  life  are  estimated  on  the 
basis  of  the  question  whether  a  man  is  a  money- 
getter  or  not.  Commercial  success  is  too  often 
measured  by  the  amount  of  money  made  regardless 


THE  SOCIAL  AXIOM  203 

of  the  methods.  The  money-getting  quaUty  is  in- 
dispensable in  the  pastor  and  the  college  presi- 
dent. Novel-writing  and  book-writing  generally  are 
largely  with  a  view  to  profits.  Political  parties  are 
called  to  the  judgment  seat  of  financial  prosper- 
ity and  are  voted  in  or  out  according  as  they  are 
able  to  wave  the  magic  wand  which  sets  the  silver 
floods  flowing. 

The  abuses  connected  with  child  labor  in  our 
factories  have  also  attracted  much  attention  and 
should  receive  careful  thought.  Another  form  of 
social  service  which  presents  peculiar  difficulties 
is  to  be  seen  in  the  modern  problem  of  charity  and 
poor  relief.  Much  thinking  and  planning  yet  re- 
mains to  be  done  on  this  subject  before  a  solution 
is  in  sight.  Many  of  our  reformers  are  telling  us 
that  the  most  fundamental  and  trying  of  all  our 
evils  is  the  competitive  system,  and  that  relief  at 
this  point  would  bring  relief  at  all  points.  Closely 
connected  with  the  money-getting  passion  of  Ameri- 
cans is  the  great  question  of  the  stewardship  of 
money.  This,  of  course,  in  a  peculiar  manner  affects 
professing  Christians.  The  vast  missionary  and 
educational  enterprises  of  the  Christian  denomina- 
tions present  an  opportunity  and  enforce  an  obliga- 
tion for  social  service  unparalleled  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  We  might  extend  this  enumeration  in- 
definitely. What  has  been  said  is  sufficient  to  indi- 
cate the  urgency  of  the  need  and  the  vastness  of  the 
opportunity. 


204  THE  AXIOMS  OF  RELIGION 

A  Question  as  to  Duty. 

The  question  is  what  is  the  duty  of  a  free  Church 
in  a  free  State  where  these  conditions  prevail?  It 
must  be  repUed  that  a  mere  sociological  Christianity 
must  fail  since  it  ignores  the  basal  law  of  Christianity. 
To  regenerate  the  individual  is  the  sole  condition  of 
permanent  moral  progress  in  the  social  sphere.  It 
is  curious  to  note  the  superficial  view  men  have  held 
as  to  human  progress.  Mr.  Buckle  in  his  history  of 
civilization  declares  that  morals  have  had  little  or 
nothing  to  do  with  human  progress  because  morality 
is  static  or  fixed;  while  intellect  which  is  dynamic 
and  progressive  has  carried  on  the  process.  Chris- 
tian morality  may  be  "  static  "  in  the  sense  in  which 
all  ultimate  things  are  static.  The  summit  of  Mount 
Blanc  is  "  static,"  the  constellations  in  a  sense  are 
"  static,"  and  so  is  the  Christian  moral  ideal.  For 
this  very  reason,  however,  along  with  its  elevation 
above  the  ordinary  attainment  of  men,  and  its  ideal 
quality,  it  has  been  the  "  flying  goal  "  of  the  race 
for  two  thousand  years.  This  ideal  assumes  a  moral 
character  in  harmony  with  it,  and  that  character 
is  created  by  the  regeneration  of  the  individual. 
Therefore  Christianity  cannot  abandon  its  doctrine 
of  "  regenerated  individualism "  without  commit- 
ting suicide.  It  is  by  means  of  regenerated  individ- 
uals associated  together  as  churches  that  Christi- 
anity becomes  a  leaven  to  transform  the  social  order. 
This  is  primary  and  fundamental. 


THE  SOCIAL  AXIOM  205 

Now  it  is  on  this  foundation  that  the  moral  edifice 
rises  in  individual  and  in  social  life.  Regeneration 
contains  in  itself  the  seeds  of  all  righteousness.  No 
moral  interest  lies  outside  the  sphere  of  the  church 
of  Christ.  Doubtless  much  of  the  failure  of  the 
church  to  leaven  the  social  relations  of  men  has 
grown  out  of  the  failure  to  recognize  this  truth. 
The  duty  of  the  pulpit  and  the  church,  therefore, 
may  be  stated  in  several  ways.  First  of  all  there 
is  need  that  this  truth  be  grasped;  the  new  birth 
means  the  regeneration  of  the  entire  life.  Salva- 
tion is  not  a  fragment.  A  Christian  has  been  saved, 
he  is  being  saved,  and  he  will  be  saved.  The  great 
word  salvation  so  understood  becomes  a  far  greater 
conception  than  that  of  a  deliverance  from  death  and 
hell  simply  and  exclusively. 

The  Church  ought  to  exert  a  powerful  influence 
upon  the  State.  The  Church  cannot  take  the  State 
but  it  does  take  the  citizens  of  the  State  into  itself. 
It  cannot  undertake  commercial  enterprises  with 
wisdom  or  safety  but  it  does  have  the  moral  and 
spiritual  guidance  of  business  men.  One  of  the 
most  serious  difficulties  to  be  overcome  is  the  arti- 
ficial grouping  of  men  with  moral  ideals  to  corre- 
spond. Politicians  have  become  a  professional  class 
with  us.  Business  men  in  like  manner  in  important 
respects  think  and  act  on  certain  accepted  lines  and 
ideals,  and  church-members  also  tend  to  become 
segregated  from  other  interests.  Sound  moral  ideas 
should  penetrate  all  groups. 


206  the  axioms  of  religion 

New  Ethical  Questions. 

Many  ethical  questions  have  arisen  in  our  civiliza- 
tion which  are  entirely  new.  One  man  regards  the 
trust  as  the  sum  of  all  evils  and  another  maintains 
that  it  is  the  inevitable  goal  of  commercial  evolution. 
This  illustrates,  along  with  many  other  things,  how 
our  civilization  since  the  industrial  revolution  is, 
in  a  real  sense  of  the  word,  yet  in  the  making. 
Christian  thinkers  have  before  them  the  great  task 
of  thinking  these  ethical  problems  through.  We 
have  indeed  what  is  called  the  "  new  political 
economy."  Professor  Ely  has  said  that  the  new 
political  economy  is  simply  the  attempt  to  apply  to 
society  at  large  the  principles  of  Christ's  parable  of 
the  talents. 

Christian  men  cannot  hold  themselves  aloof  from 
public  questions  and  public  service  if  they  are  to 
embody  the  principles  of  Christianity  in  their  prac- 
tical conduct.  Roughly  speaking  Christians  may  be 
classified  as  monastics,  mystics,  moralists,  and  mis- 
sionaries. The  monastic  life  is  not  in  good  repute, 
although  the  disposition  to  shrink  from  public  serv- 
ice is  in  its  essence  the  old  monkish  refusal  to 
"  look  into  the  swarthiest  face  of  things  "  and  dis- 
charge unpleasant  duty.  The  mystic  loves  com- 
munion with  God  and  so  far  is  in  line  with  all  great 
souls  of  the  past.  But  "  if  a  man  is  imperfect  who  is 
apart  from  the  divine,  so  is  a  man  imperfect  who  is 
apart  from  the  human."    The  moralist  is  mistaken 


THE  SOCIAL  AXIOM  207 

only  when  he  attempts  to  obtain  the  fruit  without 
the  roots  or  is  content  with  personal  and  indifferent 
to  social  morality.  Some  one  has  brought  out  the 
point  by  an  incident  in  the  experience  of  Alice. 
Alice  in  Wonderland  saw  a  cat  with  a  grin  on 
its  face.  The  cat  gradually  faded  away  until  only 
the  grin  remained.  This,  however,  was  in  the 
Wonderland  of  Alice,  not  in  the  real  world.  You 
may  have  a  face  without  a  grin,  but  not  a  grin  with- 
out a  face.  You  cannot  produce  morality  apart  from 
its  spiritual  cause.  The  missionary  is  mastered  by 
the  moral  and  evangelistic  impulse.  He  is  an  aggres- 
sive advocate  of  a  saving  gospel  and  of  all  morality 
and  social  righteousness.  It  is  of  the  essence  of 
Christianity  to  send  a  man  out  after  his  fellows. 
The  Christian  who  understands  the  meaning  of  his 
religion,  therefore,  will  be  a  force  for  civic,  com- 
mercial, social,  and  all  other  forms  of  righteous- 
ness. Thus  Christianity  in  America  will  become  the 
religion  of  the  State,  although  not  a  State  religion. 

The  True  Imitation  of  Christ. 

The  true  imitation  of  Christ  consists  not  in  ask- 
ing "  What  would  Jesus  do?  "  merely,  but  in  asking 
What  would  Jesus  have  us  do?  Christ  cannot  be 
copied.  He  is  less  a  model  for  us  than  an  arche- 
type. We  may  imitate  but  not  copy  him.  To 
copy  Christ  would  be  to  attempt  to  cure  the  blind 
by  anointing  his  eyes  with  clay  mixed  with  our  own 
spittle.    To  imitate  him  is  to  devise  measures  legal 


208  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 


and  otherwise  to  relieve  and  to  prevent  blindness. 
To  copy  Christ  is  to  attempt  to  feed  the  hungry 
thousands  by  a  miraculous  multiplication  of  loaves 
and  fishes.  To  imitate  Christ  is  to  labor  for  equit- 
able social  conditions,  just  laws,  and  equal  privileges 
for  men  that  they  may  earn  their  own  bread.  To 
imitate  Christ  is  not  to  take  sides  with  labor  against 
capital  or  with  capital  against  labor  in  the  contest 
for  rights,  but  rather  to  teach  capital  and  labor  to 
perform  their  respective  duties.  Christ  did  not  deal 
directly  with  human  rights,  though  no  teacher  ever 
did  so  much  to  establish  them.  He  dealt  with  hu- 
man duties  knowing  that  this  was  the  point  need- 
ing emphasis.  Christ  was  not  concerned  so  much 
with  property  as  he  was  with  persons.  He  valued 
men  more  than  houses  or  lands.  Our  statute  books 
exhibit  their  distance  from  him  in  nothing  more 
than  in  their  overweening  regard  for  property  along 
with  slight  consideration  of  life  and  person.  Hun- 
dreds of  people  may  be  roasted  in  a  theater  fire  or 
crushed  to  death  in  a  collapsed  building  and  the  men 
guilty  of  the  faulty  and  illegal  construction  go  scot 
free  on  a  legal  technicality.  But  let  injury  to  prop- 
erty take  place  and  men  are  swept  out  of  them- 
selves by  moral  indignation. 

We  are  disloyal  to  Christ  so  long  as  we  regard 
the  political  or  commercial  world  as  a  foreign 
country  to  the  Christian.  To  think  of  it  as  under 
the  curse  of  God  is  virtually  to  deliver  it  over  to 
the  dominion  of  Satan.    Such  a  view,  and  it  is  by 


THE  SOCIAL  AXIOM  209 

no  means  uncommon,  involves  as  its  underlying 
philosophy  the  old  Persian  and  Manichaean  dual- 
ism of  two  contending  forces  equally  powerful,  one 
good  and  the  other  evil. 

Christ  cannot  be  claimed  as  the  special  patron  of 
any  particular  reform  movement.  The  Socialists 
and  Communists  try  to  claim  him,  and  so  do  the  in- 
dividualists, and  the  anarchists,  and  revolutionaries 
of  all  kinds.  But  he  is  greater  than  they  all.  His 
cause  absorbs  all  the  truth  in  each  of  them.  These 
little  systems  have  their  day  and  then  they  cease  to 
be.  They  grow  to  maturity  and  flourish  like  the 
trees  of  a  forest  and  then,  dying,  fall  piecemeal  to 
fertilize  the  soil  below.  He  is  the  sun  which  warms 
the  soil  in  which  lie  slumbering  the  seeds  of  his 
kingdom  and  causes  them  to  germinate  and  grow 
up  to  supply  spiritual  bread  for  mankind. 

Congregational  Church  Polity  Best. 

The  separation  of  Church  and  State  is  the  condi- 
tion of  the  highest  efficiency  of  the  church  in  fit- 
ting men  for  social  service.  To  be  untrammeled  by 
fetters  which  bind  it  to  the  intrigues  and  politics  and 
to  the  varying  fortunes  of  the  State  leaves  the  church 
free  to  render  the  State  the  highest  possible  service. 
Thus  it  may  create  spiritual  character  in  men  and 
women  who  in  turn  guide  the  destiny  of  the  social 
order.  The  church  is  the  dynamo  whose  task  it  is  to 
charge  all  departments  of  life  with  righteousness. 

To  fulfil  this  task  the  best  form  of  church  polity 
o 


THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 


is  congregational.  Local  self-government  is  best 
adapted  to  produce  the  self-reliance  and  manhood 
needed  in  all  the  walks  of  life.  Moreover  it  enables 
the  church  to  escape  from  the  snare  of  becom- 
ing a  Church  State,  which  is  quite  possible  even 
when  the  theory  of  a  State  Church  is  repudiated. 
Roman  Catholicism  is  a  Church  State.  That  is  to 
say  it  is  a  highly  organized  and  centralized  piece 
of  ecclesiastical  machinery  which  absorbs  a  vast 
amount  of  energy,  time,  and  money  in  government 
alone.  The  spiritual  is  always  in  danger  of  being 
swallowed  up  in  the  institutional.  The  work  of 
making  men  righteous  tends  to  become  merged  in 
the  task  of  making  them  fit  into  their  places  in  the 
ecclesiastical  system.  Indeed  righteousness  tends 
more  and  more  to  become  formal  and  institutional 
instead  of  vital  and  real.  The  same  remarks  apply 
in  a  measure  to  all  episcopal  or  centralized  systems 
of  church  government.  They  are  Church  States, 
although  in  America  not  State  Churches.  To  this 
extent  they  become  rivals  of  the  civil  State  and  of 
the  forces  which  make  for  righteousness  in  society  at 
large,  in  that  they  absorb  energy  which  should  flow 
directly  into  these  other  channels. 

The  best  service  which  Christianity  can  render 
to  society  is  to  produce  righteousness  in  individual 
character  and  at  the  same  time  set  the  man  free  as 
an  agent  of  righteousness  in  society  at  large.  To 
regenerate  him  and  sanctify  him  and  then  put  a 
heavy  tax  upon  his  time  and  energy  in  the  adminis- 


THE  SOCIAL  AXIOM  21] 


tration  of  the  political  life  of  the  church  is  to  call 
him  away  from  his  proper  duties  as  a  member  of 
society.  In  short,  other  things  being  equal,  the 
simpler  the  ecclesiastical  machinery  the  better.  The 
more  completely  the  church's  function  is  specialized 
in  the  direction  of  producing  righteousness  the  more 
efficient  does  it  become.  The  less  complex  the  ma- 
chinery of  the  church  the  greater  the  opportunity 
for  her  sons  to  cast  their  lives  and  influence  into  the 
complex  and  manifold  affairs  of  the  State,  and  into 
all  great  movements  for  the  moral  and  spiritual 
improvement  of  society. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

BAPTISTS  AND  GENERAL  ORGANIZATION.      DEVELOPING 
AFTER  OUR  KIND 

We  have  now  concluded  our  general  exposition 
of  the  axioms  of  religion.  It  is  in  order  next  to 
apply  them  in  several  directions.  One  of  the  first 
of  these  is  suggested  by  the  conclusion  of  our  last 
chapter.  Baptists  oppose  the  Church  State  as  well 
as  the  State  Church,  the  undue  centralization  of 
administration  and  authority  as  tending  to  absorb 
energy  in  illegitimate  ways,  as  well  as  the  union  of 
Church  and  State.  What  then  is  the  true  theory  of 
general  organization  for  religious  purposes?  For 
no  one  will  contest  the  proposition  that  co-operation 
for  religious  purposes  on  the  part  of  individuals 
and  churches  and  societies  is  highly  desirable  and 
fully  in  accord  with  the  nature  of  Christianity,  and 
not  opposed  to  the  teachings  of  the  New  Testament. 

Voluntary  Principle  Must  Control. 

Now  it  will  be  entirely  clear  to  the  reader  who  has 
followed  us  thus  far  that  the  voluntary  principle 
must  control  in  all  Baptist  general  organization,  if  we 
are  to  work  out  our  destiny  on  logical  lines  and  in 
accordance  with  providential  indications.  Our  view 
of  general  organization  grows  directly  out  of  our 


BAPTISTS   AND   GENERAL   ORGANIZATION         213 

fundamental  assumption  of  the  competency  of  the 
soul  in  religion  under  God,  and  three  of  the  axioms, 
the  religious,  the  ecclesiastical,  and  the  moral.  Di- 
rect access  to  God,  equality  of  privilege  in  the 
church,  and  individual  responsibility  are  the  core  of 
the  Baptist  view.  We  may  expand  these  general 
conceptions  into  the  following  statements.  The 
voluntary  principle  must  control  in  missionary  and 
other  general  organizations  because — 

1.  Religious  authority  is  direct  and  not  indirect. 
We  have  shown  in  a  previous  chapter  that  in 
human  governments  it  is  necessary  to  localize  au- 
thority, from  the  nature  of  the  case,  and  that  in 
religion,  on  the  contrary,  from  the  nature  of  the 
case,  the  authority  cannot  be  localized. 

2.  There  are  no  legislative  or  judicial  functions 
left  for  general  bodies  to  assume.  The  Scriptures 
are  the  rule  of  faith  and  practice,  and  discipline 
is  remanded  to  the  local  church. 

3.  The  functions,  therefore,  of  general  organiza- 
tions are  strictly  limited.  They  have  no  ends  to 
serve  save  those  of  eliciting,  combining,  and  direct- 
ing the  missionary,  educational,  or  other  forms  of 
energy  among  the  churches  and  smaller  societies, 
for  the  advancement  of  the  kingdom  of  God  on 
earth.  In  short,  they  are  simply  means  of  co-opera- 
tion on  an  entirely  voluntary  basis. 

4.  Most  of  the  advantages  of  the  centralized 
church  governments  can  be  attained  thus  without 
their   abuses   and   shortcomings,   and   without   the 


214  THE   AXIOMS    OF   RELIGION 

sacrifice  of  the  Christian  ideal  at  any  point.  There 
may  be,  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  is,  a  thoroughly 
graded  series  of  missionary  organizations  under  the 
Baptist  polity.  There  is  not  a  dead  uniformity  in 
the  constitution  of  these  bodies  and  the  members 
are  at  liberty  to  modify  these  constitutions  at  pleas- 
ure. But  the  exigencies  of  the  work  and  needs  of 
the  churches  may  be  provided  for  at  any  time  by 
suitable  organizations. 

5.  In  consequence  of  the  fact  that  Baptists  exclude 
the  principle  of  authority  and  rely  upon  the  principle 
of  voluntary  co-operation,  the  course  of  general  or- 
ganization has  been  with  them  an  evolution  accord- 
ing to  changing  conditions  and  in  order  to  meet  new 
problems  of  the  enlarging  work.  There  is  flexi- 
bility and  adaptability,  therefore,  along  with  expan- 
sive capacity  rather  than  a  rigid  machine  which 
may  become  a  burden  as  well  as  generate  power. 

6.  The  representative  principle  in  the  strict  sense 
is  excluded  by  our  general  position.  If  representa- 
tion is  real  it  binds,  and  this  is  excluded  by  the 
religious  and  ecclesiastical  axioms.  It  shifts  general 
organization  at  once  from  a  Baptist  to  a  Presby- 
terian basis.  The  Baptist  principle  is  that  a  church, 
or  individual,  or  society,  co-operates  with  a  general 
body  whose  objects  and  aims  it  approves,  not  dele- 
gating authority  in  any  sense,  or  binding  itself 
beyond  its  expressed  purpose,  and  always  reserving 
the  right  of  dissent  or  withdrawal  at  pleasure. 
The  evils  of  delegated  authority  may  be  illustrated 


BAPTISTS   AND   GENERAL   ORGANIZATION         21$ 

thus :  Suppose  seventy-five  or  eighty  years  ago 
when  some  of  our  smaller  general  bodies  were  being 
formed,  a  church  committed  to  world-wide  evangel- 
ization had  delegated  its  authority  to  the  general 
body  and  bound  itself  to  its  decisions,  and  upon  the 
assembling  of  the  latter  the  anti-missionary  forces 
had  been  in  the  majority  and  voted  the  missionary 
enterprise  down.  This  would  of  course  raise  the 
question  of  conscience  and  the  missionary  church 
and  individual  would  have  to  face  the  question 
whether  to  obey  God  or  man.  Indeed,  in  Baptist 
history,  more  than  once  anti-missionary  forces  have 
been  in  the  majority  in  district  Associations  and 
elsewhere.  Chaos  would  have  ensued  under  a  sys- 
tem of  delegated  authority.  Chaos  did  not  ensue  be- 
cause the  voluntary  principle  allowed  each  party  to 
go  its  own  way  and  organize  for  its  own  purposes 
answerable  to  God  alone. 

An  Inevitable  Result. 

The  result  is  inevitable.  Compulsory  obedience 
to  human  authority  in  religion,  where  authority  is 
necessarily  direct  and  spiritual,  always  leads  to 
collision  and  strife.  The  human  authority  to  be  of 
worth  in  religion  must  be  assumed  to  be  infallible 
and  representative  of  God  himself,  or  it  ceases  to 
be  authority.  Papal  infallibility  is  the  inevitable 
logic  of  all  forms  of  religious  authority.  Thus  there 
is  an  inherent  contradiction  in  the  idea  of  a  central- 
ized church  government.     If  God  in  Christ  is  the 


2l6  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

ultimate  authority  in  religion,  if  the  right  of  private 
interpretation  of  Scripture  is  an  inalienable  right 
of  believers,  if  the  Spirit  of  God  illumines  the  mind 
of  the  individual,  then  to  centralize  church  polity 
is  to  put  a  premium  upon  schism  and  strife  on  the 
one  hand,  or  it  is  to  deaden  conscience  and  reduce 
Christianity  to  formalism  on  the  other.  For  the 
awakened  conscience  will  not  tolerate  legislation 
at  the  hands  of  men,  and  the  occasions  for  col- 
lision will  be  as  numerous  as  there  are  questions  of 
conscience.  Christian  history  abundantly  justifies 
all  these  statements.  Baptists  have  been  a  remark- 
ably united  people  in  spite  of  their  freedom  and  in- 
dividualism. There  have  been  divisions  of  sentiment 
on  various  questions  doctrinal  or  otherwise,  but 
gradually  the  separated  parts  gravitate  together 
again  under  the  quiet  influence  of  personal  convic- 
tion and  spiritual  and  intellectual  growth. 

Plea  for  Centralized  Church  Polity. 

Occasionally  a  plea  is  made  among  us  for  a  more 
centralized  church  polity.  Looking  at  the  apparent 
advantages  of  episcopacy  and  neglecting  to  consider 
its  disadvantages,  and  forgetting  that  under  all 
centralized  systems  there  is  a  longing  on  the  part 
of  many  for  a  more  democratic  polity,  and  that  as 
a  matter  of  fact  there  is  an  irresistible  gravitation 
toward  democracy  in  them  all,  some  Baptist  writer 
or  speaker  expresses  a  desire  for  a  system  where 
authority  shall  take  the  place  of  democracy.     This 


BAPTISTS   AND   GENERAL   ORGANIZATION         217 

tendency  is  relatively  so  slight  among  us  that  the 
present  writer  does  not  anticipate  that  it  will  become 
a  serious  question.  At  the  same  time  it  may  be  well 
to  glance  briefly  at  the  assumptions  underlying  the 
plea  ami  at  the  results  which  would  follow  should 
we  give  serious  heed  to  it. 

For  one  thir^g  it  assumes  that  the  voluntary 
principle  is  a  failure  in  religion.  It  proceeds  upon 
the  hypothesis  that  humanity  cannot  be  made  spirit- 
ual enough  to  be  trusted  to  co-operate  for  spiritual 
ends.  It  rejects  the  idea  that  a  regenerated  and 
spiritual  church-membership  can  ever  be  made  fit 
for  self-government  in  the  general  affairs  of  the 
kingdom  of  God.  The  demand  for  a  centralized 
polity  among  Baptists  also  assumes  that  the  principle 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  competency  of  the  soul  in 
religion  under  God,  and  the  axioms  of  religion 
which  assert  the  equality  of  men  before  God  and 
with  each  other,  have  only  a  theoretical  and  not  a 
practical  value ;  and  indeed  that  in  this  life  working 
ideals  are  not  practicable  even  in  religion.  This 
demand  also  involves  the  view  that  the  one  religious 
body  which  has  consistently  stood  for  a  church- 
membership  based  upon  spiritual  character  alone, 
reeinforced  in  its  efforts  by  all  the  resources  of  mod- 
ern education  and  culture,  in  the  form  of  public 
education  as  well  as  through  its  own  institutions 
of  learning,  has  not  the  power  to  create  a  coherent 
system  of  administration  to  secure  certain  practical 
ends,  without  invoking  the  antiquated  theory  that 


2l8  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

religious  authority  is  indirect  instead  of  direct.  In 
short,  this  demand  for  a  centralized  authoritative 
system  assumes  that  liberty  and  unity  are  irrecon- 
cilable ideas.  It  banishes  liberty  and  equality  in  the 
name  of  unity,  and  assumes  that  while  all  the  rest  of 
the  world  in  political  theory,  in  art,  in  science,  and 
in  education,  is  gravitating  irresistibly  toward  the 
doctrine  of  the  competency  of  the  soul  under  God, 
toward  democracy  and  freedom,  the  one  religious 
body  which  has  made  its  history  glorious  through 
its  advocacy  of  that  doctrine,  must  now  abandon  it. 

Not  Weary  in  Well-doing. 

Let  Baptists  be  not  weary  in  well-doing.  Our 
inability  to  enlist  all  our  people  in  all  our  work  at 
all  times  is  discouraging  to  a  superficial  view.  If 
our  ecclesiastical  machinery  could  be  so  adjusted 
and  oiled  as  to  run  without  a  jar  it  would  doubt- 
less save  trouble  and  please  the  esthetic  faculty. 
But  there  is  a  profound  reason  why  such  adjust- 
ment can  only  come  slowly :  we  are  dealing  with 
persons  and  not  with  things — with  human  wills,  not 
with  wood  and  iron.  When  you  step  into  a  great 
power  plant  you  admire  its  smooth  running.  The 
ponderous  machinery  answers  to  a  human  ideal 
as  the  planets  in  their  orbits  answer  to  the  will  of 
God.  But  this  is  because  a  human  will  has  im- 
pressed itself  upon  material  things.  When  the  ideal 
has  been  perfected  in  the  mind  of  the  constructor 
the  rest  is  simply  a  question  of  mechanical  execu- 


BAPTISTS    AND   GENERAL   ORGANIZATION         219 

tion  of  details.  But  the  process  is  far  more  complex 
in  an  orchestra.  The  players  on  the  various  instru- 
ments conquer  each  his  individual  harmony  and 
his  place  in  the  general  eflfect  by  slow  and  pains- 
taking effort  under  the  direction  of  the  leader.  It 
requires  much  time  and  much  patience  and  per- 
sistent practice  after  a  high  degree  of  proficiency 
has  been  reached  to  maintain  a  high  standard  of 
musical  perfection. 

Now  it  is  the  ideal  of  the  orchestra  and  not  that 
of  the  machine  which  must  control  in  religion.  Not 
one  human  will  stamping  itself  upon  other  human 
wills  by  authority,  but  Christ's  will  leading  his 
people  to  the  unity  and  harmony  which  will  re- 
produce his  own  moral  ideal.  If  art  and  science  and 
education  belong  to  the  kingdom  of  the  free  spirit 
of  man,  so  does  religion  under  God.  If  science 
cannot  be  developed  by  authority,  if  art  can  only 
attain  excellence  through  the  free  play  of  genius, 
if  education  in  its  fundamental  ideals  must  con- 
form to  the  organic  laws  of  the  soul,  so  must 
religion  unfold  under  the  light  and  guidance  of 
God's  Spirit,  and  not  through  the  repressive  influ- 
ences of  human  authority. 

When  God  had  finished  his  creation  of  living 
things  he  commanded  each  to  reproduce  "  after  his 
kind."  Baptists  may  well  give  heed  to  that  injunc- 
tion to-day.  Our  strength  lies  in  our  freedom  and 
democracy.  Herein  lies  our  appeal  to  the  universal 
heart  of  the  race.     We  cannot  mix  episcopacy  or 


220  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

presbyterianism  with  our  democracy  without  an 
immense  weakening  of  our  hold  upon  humanity, 
loss  of  self-respect,  and  lowering  of  spiritual  tone. 
We  must  develop  "  after  our  kind."  If  the  way 
seem  long  and  steep  and  if  we  grow  weary  from 
time  to  time,  it  is  because  the  goal  is  high  and  spirit- 
ual— even  the  city  that  hath  foundations  whose 
builder  and  maker  is  God. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
baptists  and  christian  union 
The  Question  of  Christian  Union. 

No  question  which  has  engaged  the  thought  of 
rehgious  men  during  the  past  generation  has  been 
more  complex  or  difficult  than  that  of  Christian 
union.  The  matter  was  brought  to  a  practical 
issue  in  1888  when  the  Church  of  England  issued 
the  famous  Lambeth  articles — a  platform  of  union 
containing  four  planks.  These  articles  were  a 
slightly  modified  statement  of  the  platform  pro- 
mulgated just  before  by  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  of  the  United  States,  The  Lambeth  articles 
are  as  follows : 

"  (A)  The  Holy  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  as  containing  all  things  necessary  to 
salvation,  and  as  being  the  rule  and  ultimate 
standard  of  faith. 

"(B)  The  Apostles'  Creed  as  the  Baptismal 
Symbol,  and  the  Nicene  Creed  as  the  sufficient 
statement  of  the  Christian  faith. 

"(C)  The  Two  Sacraments  ordained  by  Christ 
Himself — Baptism  and  the  Supper  of  the  Lord — 
ministered  with  unfailing  use  of  Christ's  words 
of  Institution,  and  of  the  elements  ordained  by 
Him. 


222  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

"(D)  The  Historic  Episcopate,  locally  adapted 
in  the  methods  of  its  administration  to  the  varying 
needs  of  the  nations  and  peoples  called  of  God  into 
the  Unity  of  His  Church." 

These  articles  were  discussed  in  pulpit  and  press 
to  a  greater  or  less  extent  in  all  parts  of  modern 
Christendom.  But  no  serious  movement  toward  or- 
ganic union  followed.  Attention  was  thus  called 
to  the  subject  afresh,  however,  and  there  has  been  a 
tendency  toward  union  among  some  of  the  groups 
of  religious  bodies  most  closely  related  in  doctrine 
and  polity.  There  seems  at  present  to  be  little  senti- 
ment in  favor  of  practical  efforts  toward  organic 
union  of  all  the  Christian  denominations.  The 
agitation  has  served  to  bring  into  bold  relief  the 
obstacles,  which  are  many  and  formidable.  The 
principle  of  federation,  however,  has  been  invoked 
and  a  federation  of  most  of  the  larger  bodies  has 
been  effected.  This  federation  ignores  the  ecclesias- 
tical issues  entirely  and  seeks  to  unite  all  forces  of 
righteousness  in  the  various  denominations  on  a 
common  platform  of  civic,  social,  and  moral  reform. 

Christian  Union  in  the  Deeper  Sense. 

The  subject  of  Christian  union  in  the  deeper  sense 
abides,  however,  and  will  doubtless  abide  until 
Christ's  prayer  for  the  unity  of  his  people  is  fully 
answered.  At  least  three  points  seem  to  have  been 
gained  by  the  discussion  of  the  subject  hitherto,  and 
through  the  efforts  toward  practical  Christian  union. 


BAPTISTS    AND    CHRISTIAN    UNION  223 

The  first  is  that  premature  union  is  fraught  with 
much  peril  as  ilkistrated  in  the  efforts  of  the  Pres- 
byterians to  reunite  with  their  Cumberland  brethren. 
The  second  is  that  Christian  union  cannot  be  made 
to  order,  but  must  come  as  a  result  of  growth.  The 
third  is  that  there  is  a  very  deep  and  widespread 
conviction  in  the  Christian  world  that  somehow 
union  will  come  in  due  time,  that  the  present  divided 
state  of  Christendom  is  not  the  ideal  state,  and  that 
God  is  at  work  among  his  people  with  this  end  in 
view. 

The  best  service  can  be  rendered  to  the  cause  of 
Christian  union  by  a  discussion  not  so  much  of 
programmes  of  union  as  of  the  principles  of  union. 
Real  and  radical  Christian  union,  or  to  employ  a 
word  which  is  open  to  more  or  less  objection, 
"  organic  "  Christian  union,  as  distinguished  from 
the  spirit  of  unity  and  co-operation,  can  never  come 
as  a  permanent  and  abiding  condition  until  it  comes 
in  obedience  to  the  organic  laws  of  Christianity. 
The  most  serious  defects  in  the  programmes  of 
union  have  been  that  they  have  viewed  Christianity 
as  institution  and  organization  first,  and  only  sec- 
ondarily as  spiritual  law.  The  process  must  be 
reversed. 

A  Serious  Objection. 

The  most  serious  objection  to  the  Lambeth  articles 
is  that  they  include  the  historic  episcopate.  This  ap- 
proaches the  matter  on  the  institutional  side  and  sets 


224  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

up  one  form  of  church  poHty  as  essential.  There 
would  be  no  objection  to  this  method  of  procedure, 
provided  the  historic  episcopate  could  be  shown  to 
rest  upon  fundamental  spiritual  laws,  primal  Chris- 
tian convictions,  or  New  Testament  requirements. 
In  short,  no  plea  for  an  institutional  basis  of  Chris- 
tian union  can  stand  which  does  not  show  that  the 
proposed  institution  is  the  outgrowth  of  the  essential 
nature  of  Christianity  itself.  The  unity  of  every 
living  organism  in  the  vegetable  world,  of  every 
plant  or  flower,  is  the  result  of  the  co-operation  of 
the  elements  of  the  atmosphere,  the  soil,  and  the  sun- 
shine under  the  action  of  an  inner  life  principle. 
That  principle  rejects  every  alien  element  and  as- 
similates all  that  is  needful.  The  institutions  of 
Christianity  must  conform  to  its  inner  nature.  The 
polity  will  answer  to  the  life,  and  conserve  those 
fundamental  relations  of  the  soul  of  man  to  God 
which  constitute  the  core  and  essence  of  the  New 
Testament  revelation. 

We  may  approach  the  question  as  to  the  proper 
basis  of  Christian  union  in  two  ways.  We  may  as- 
sume on  the  one  hand  that  all  church  polities  are 
equally  valid,  and  on  the  other  that  some  one  is 
entitled  to  the  claim  to  the  exclusion  of  others? 

Consider  briefly  the  first  view.  It  asserts  that  the 
New  Testament  is  indeterminate  as  to  church  organ- 
ization. That  Christianity  being  a  life-principle  is 
subject  to  growth  and  development;  that  variety 
and  not  uniformity  is  the  law  of  growth;  and  that 


BAPTISTS   AND   CHRISTIAN    UNION  225 


the  various  Christian  denominations  as  they  exist 
to-day  are  simply  examples  of  the  freedom  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  religious  struggles  of  the  race.  This 
view  must  recognize  as  equally  legitimate  the  de- 
mocracy of  the  congregational  bodies  and  the  au- 
tocracy of  the  Roman  Catholic  'Church,  as  well  as 
all  the  polities  which  lie  between.  Under  this  view 
a  Baptist  would  feel  bound  to  maintain  his  doctrine 
of  the  church,  as  would  also  the  Presbyterian  and 
others,  on  the  ground  that  each  is  necessary  to  the 
expression  of  the  variety  and  fulness  of  the  life  in 
Christ. 

It  would  become  apparent  at  once,  however,  that 
"  organic "  union  would  be  impossible.  For  the 
polities  are  incompatible  with  each  other.  Any 
authoritative  source  of  unity  which  should  embrace 
all  the  denominations  would  at  once  annul  such 
polities  as  deny  authority  in  this  sense.  Episcopacy 
in  any  form  would  nullify  democracy,  and  any  real 
democracy  would  cancel  the  episcopal  principle. 
Federation  would  thus  remain  as  the  only  mode  of 
Christian  union.  The  principle  of  federation  is 
essentially  the  democratic  principle.  It  recognizes 
the  autonomy  of  each  denomination,  and  declines 
to  interfere  with  the  ecclesiastical  integrity  of  any 
religious  body. 

The  Principle  of  Federation. 

Now  as  a  matter  of  fact  Baptists  achieve  all  their 
results  in  general  organization  on  the  principle  of 
p 


226  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

federation — that  is  to  say,  on  the  voluntary  principle. 
Only  they  carry  that  principle  to  the  local  congrega- 
tion and  to  the  individual.  It  applies  to  all  mission- 
ary and  benevolent  organizations  whatever.  When 
they  co-operate  for  common  ends  they  organize 
without  any  centralized  authority.  Those  who  join 
and  those  who  withdraw  from  the  organization  do 
so  at  will.  Not  the  principle  of  legal  solidarity  but 
that  of  voluntary  unity  is  their  principle. 

It  is  obvious,  now,  that  if  the  principle  of  federa- 
tion alone  is  to  be  invoked  to  secure  Christian  union 
it  can  never  achieve  the  result  unless  it  is  applied 
in  a  far  more  thoroughgoing  manner  than  at  pres- 
ent. For,  while  it  may  mitigate  the  evils  of  a  divided 
Christendom  at  certain  points  it  cannot  abolish  them. 
It  may  stimulate  the  system  with  a  moral  tonic  but 
cannot  eradicate  the  disease.  For  denominational 
rivalries  will  continue  to  exist.  Doctrinal  contro- 
versies will  survive  in  one  form  or  another.  The 
waste  of  labor  and  money  through  the  duplication 
of  effort,  so  often  complained  of  in  our  day,  will 
continue. 

Our  conclusion  from  the  foregoing  discussion, 
therefore,  is  that  the  theory  that  all  the  existing 
church  polities  are  equally  warranted  by  the  New 
Testament  or  by  the  essential  nature  of  Christianity, 
is  false.  It  does  not  and  cannot  yield  an  answer  to 
Christ's  prayer  that  his  people  may  all  be  one.  Fed- 
eration of  incongruous  and  contradictory  systems 
is  the  best  it  can  do. 


BAPTISTS    AND    CHRISTIAN    UNION  227 

A  Single  Principle  to  be  Found, 

We  are  forced,  then,  to  the  view  that  somewhere 
there  must  be  found  a  single  principle  broad  and 
flexible  and  energetic  enough  to  answer  the  ecclesi- 
astical needs  of  the  gospel.  Where  shall  it  be  found  ? 
The  reply  is  that  it  must  be  found  in  the  congrega- 
tional or  Roman  Catholic  polity.  The  reason  for 
the  assertion  is  that  these  two  alone  are  self-con- 
sistent. Those  which  lie  between  are  dualistic,  they 
seek  to  combine  authority  and  democracy  in  a  way 
which  in  time  will  surely  fail.  As  intelligence  and 
autonomy  increase  in  these  churches  the  authority 
will  lose  its  hold;  or  if  authority  tighten  its  grip  it 
will  be  because  capacity  for  self-government  wanes. 

Consider  how  embarrassing  the  case  for  Christian 
union  becomes  when  it  is  discussed  by  the  non- 
Roman  and  non-congregational  bodies.  We  will 
suppose  a  Presbyterian  is  arguing  the  case  with  an 
Episcopalian.  The  logic  of  the  Presbyterian  is  that 
representative  church  government  is  better  than 
episcopal  because  it  brings  it  nearer  to  the  people. 
But  this  is  Baptist  logic  stopping  half-way.  If  it 
is  good  to  bring  the  government  of  the  church  one 
step  toward  the  people  surely  in  due  time  it  will 
be  good  to  carry  it  all  the  way.  The  Episcopalian, 
on  his  side,  urges  episcopacy  because  centralized 
government  is  better  than  the  non-centralized.  But 
the  Presbyterian  at  once  replies  that  if  the  principle 
be  sound  Romanism  is  the  logical  outcome.    In  the 


228  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

one  case,  therefore,  we  have  incipient  Congrega- 
tionalism and  in  the  other  incipient  Romanism.  The 
reader  does  not  need  to  be  told,  of  course,  where  the 
sympathies  of  the  writer  lie  as  between  these  two 
polities.  He  is  fully  persuaded  that  the  congrega- 
tional form  of  church  polity  is  the  predestined  goal 
of  development  for  all  Christendom.  It  is  not  so 
much  as  a  result  of  argument  that  men  will  be 
convinced  and  flock  into  the  Baptist  fold,  or  that 
any  ready-made  scheme  of  Christian  union  will  win 
the  universal  approval.  It  is  rather  that  by  a  sort 
of  spiritual  gravitation  men  will  reach  it;  by  a 
deeper  apprehension  of  the  New  Testament  they 
will  come  to  it. 

A  Twofold  Method. 

Having  examined  the  two  theories  on  which  the 
subject  of  Christian  unity  may  be  approached  we 
may  now  examine  briefly  the  twofold  method  which 
has  been  applied  in  the  past.  One  of  these  is  the 
method  of  addition,  the  other  the  method  of  sub- 
traction. 

First  we  consider  the  method  of  addition.  Some 
standard  is  set  up  which  is  regarded  as  the  combi- 
nation of  all  the  necessary  elements  in  the  ideal  and 
others  are  asked  to  add  to  what  they  already  have 
and  thus  attain  to  Christian  union.  This  is  the 
method  of  the  Lambeth  proposals  as  cited  earlier 
in  the  chapter.  The  historic  episcopate  is  to  be  in- 
corporated as  an  addition  to  all  the  other  polities 


BAPTISTS    AND    CHRISTIAN    UNION  229 


which  seek  union  on  the  Lambeth  platform.  But 
this  platform  of  union  failed.  It  approached  the 
matter  in  an  unhistoric  way.  Change  in  church 
polity  comes  of  growth,  not  by  mechanical  accretion. 
Besides  its  method  is  psychologically  defective. 
Men  do  not  find  common  standing-ground  by  the 
imposition  of  something  new  by  one  of  the  parties 
to  the  agreement  upon  the  other.  They  seek  out 
the  things  on  which  there  is  some  measure  of 
agreement  already. 

This  brings  us  to  the  second  method,  viz.,  the 
method  of  subtraction.  This  puts  on  one  side  the 
things  which  give  offense,  as  far  as  possible,  and 
seeks  a  common  point  of  view.  This  is  the  usual 
mode  of  procedure  in  attempts  at  union  of  any 
kind.  It  is  that  which  controls  in  the  federation 
of  the  churches.  There  is  not  agreement  in  polity, 
but  there  is  in  certain  doctrinal  views  and  moral 
ends.  Hence  the  latter  alone  are  brought  into  the 
question. 

Now  in  applying  the  principle  of  subtraction 
in  order  to  a  common  standing-ground  for  union, 
Baptists,  have  stood  apparently  at  a  great  disad- 
vantage although  in  reality  their  position  is  a  very 
strong  one.  They  have  reduced  the  elements  of 
church  organization  to  the  lowest  possible  terms,  and 
hence,  when  urged  to  surrender  this  or  that  they  see 
no  way  of  doing  so  without  striking  a  blow  at  their 
ecclesiastical  integrity.  Their  church  polity  is  the 
simple  undeveloped  polity  of  the  New  Testament. 


230  THE   AXIOMS    OF    RELIGION 

They  have  the  minimum  of  church  government, 
Congregationalism;  the  minimum  of  office  bearers, 
pastors  or  elders  and  deacons ;  the  minimum  of  or- 
dinances, baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper ;  the  mini- 
mum of  doctrinal  tests  for  membership,  not  subscrip- 
tion to  a  creed  but  vital  faith  in  Christ  and  the  spirit 
of  obedience  to  his  commands  as  evidenced  in  the 
first  instance  by  submission  to  baptism  in  the  name 
of  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit. 

It  is  evident  from  the  preceding  that  if  the 
method  of  addition  were  the  correct  one  in  attaining 
Christian  union  Baptists  would  be  in  a  position 
to  add  all  the  elements  of  episcopacy,  and  sacer- 
dotalism, the  Methodistic  principle,  and  the  prin- 
ciple of  authoritative  representation,  a  series  of 
graded  courts  and  legislatures.  But,  as  previously 
remarked,  the  enforced  introduction  of  new  planks 
into  platforms  of  union  is  never  the  correct  method, 
but  rather  the  finding  of  a  common  standing-ground, 
or  the  method  of  subtraction.  Now  in  the  quest  for 
this  common  standing-ground  Baptists  occupy  a 
peculiarly  advantageous  position.  For  not  one  of 
the  elements  of  their  polity  as  enumerated  above  is 
without  recognition  throughout  the  evangelical 
world.  Immersion  is  not  the  preferred  mode  of 
baptism,  of  course,  in  some  denominations,  but  it  is 
universally  recognized  as  a  valid  mode,  while 
sprinkling  and  pouring  are  not  thus  universally 
accepted.  If  we  were  to  subtract  anything  from  our 
Congregationalism  in  the  matter  of  church  govern- 


BAPTISTS   AND    CHRISTIAN    UNION  23I 

ment  proper  we  would  be  without  any  church,  organ- 
ization whatever.  Moreover,  congregationaHsm  is 
quite  generally  accepted  as  one  legitimate  form  of 
church  order.  Baptists  have,  in  short,  carried  the 
process  of  subtraction  to  the  limit,  or  rather  they 
have  eschewed  the  tendency  to  incorporate  new 
features  into  the  simple  New  Testament  polity  which 
renders  subtraction  necessary. 

Baptists  and  Organic  Union. 

It  is  at  this  point  that  we  find  an  explanation  of 
the  fact  that  Baptists  have  not  been  particularly 
active  as  a  rule  in  efforts  toward  organic  Christian 
union.  They  are  not  indeed  without  profound  in- 
terest in  the  matter.  But  being  unable  to  surrender 
any  element  of  their  simple  church  order  without 
fatally  weakening  it,  and  being  unwilling  to  urge 
others  to  violate  their  consciences,  they  have  await- 
ed the  leading  of  Providence  rather  than  sought  to 
reorganize  Christianity. 

There  is,  however,  a  still  deeper  reason  for  their 
attitude.  The  movement  toward  Christian  union 
has,  in  their  view,  too  often  conceived  Christianity 
primarily  as  an  ecclesiasticism,  whereas  it  is  essen- 
tially a  life  involving  certain  relations  to  God 
through  Christ.  To  secure  a  unity  of  Christendom 
under  the  aegis  of  the  Church  of  England  with  its 
doctrine  of  the  historic  episcopate,  or  in  any  other 
external  way  would  not  necessarily  add  to  the  real 
spirituality  or  efficiency  of  the  church. 


2T,2  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

The  plea  of  Baptists,  therefore,  is  not  a  plea  for 
"  organic  "  union  as  the  chief  goal  of  endeavor  at 
present,  however  desirable  and  important  Christian 
union  is  in  itself.  Their  plea  is  rather  for  the  spirit- 
ual rights  of  mankind:  the  competency  of  the  soul 
in  religion  under  God,  the  equality  of  all  men  in 
direct  dealing  with  God,  the  equal  rights  of  be- 
lievers in  the  church,  the  principle  of  responsibility 
as  growing  out  of  the  freedom  of  the  soul.  The 
axioms  of  religion  lie  at  the  heart  of  New  Testa- 
ment Christianity.  If  the  evangelical  bodies  which 
have  added  to  their  systems  those  elements  which 
contravene  the  axioms  and  subvert  the  spiritual 
rights  of  the  race,  will  discard  them,  Christian  union 
will  come  of  itself.  We  do  not  mean  that  all  de- 
nominations will  then  come  at  once  into  the  Baptist 
fold  so  far  as  external  organizations  are  concerned. 
For  the  voluntary  principle  would  leave  them  to 
organize  as  they  might  see  fit.  But  it  would  secure 
unity  of  doctrine  and  polity.  It  would  enable  the 
entire  evangelical  world  to  present  a  united  front 
against  sacerdotalism  and  sacramentalism  which 
violates  the  religious  axiom,  and  against  episcopacy 
which  deprives  the  spiritual  of  their  rights  and 
privileges  in  the  church,  and  against  infant  baptism 
which  is  out  of  harmony  with  the  moral  axiom.  It 
would  give  to  American  Christianity  the  tremen- 
dous advantage  of  a  simple,  consistent,  New  Testa- 
ment church  order  in  missionary  endeavor  in 
heathen  lands. 


BAPTISTS   AND    CHRISTIAN    UNION  233 

The  axioms  of  religion,  as  expounded  in  previous 
chapters,  enter  vitally  into  the  primal  instincts  of 
all  men  who  have  been  under  the  guiding  hand  of 
Christ  and  who  have  been  nurtured  in  New  Testa- 
ment teaching.  No  effort  or  device  for  ecclesiastical 
or  "  organic  "  union  can  ever  permanently  succeed 
which  ignores  those  instincts.  We  must  learn  to 
think  God's  thoughts  after  him  as  revealed  in 
Christ  if  we  are  to  find  the  clew  to  unity.  The 
deeper  currents  of  thought  and  life  in  the  Christian 
world,  the  fundamental  relations  of  the  soul  to  God, 
must  find  embodiment  in  the  final  church  order. 

Modern  Life  and  Democracy. 

Now  it  is  evident  to  the  careful  observer  that  the 
deeper  tides  of  modern  life  are  all  setting  toward 
democracy  in  Church  and  State.  By  an  inevitable 
gravitation  the  world  is  being  carried  that  way. 
The  universe  about  us  is  a  symbol  of  the  spiritual 
order.  It  is  a  universe  because  it  is  one,  a  coherent 
system  of  interrelated  parts.  "  He  hangeth  the  stars 
upon  nothing,"  and  yet  they  keep  to  their  courses 
and  swing  in  their  orbits.  In  the  early  stages  of  our 
solar  system,  doubtless  much  was  chaotic  and  dis- 
orderly, as  in  modern  Christendom.  Conflicting 
tendencies,  aberrations,  comets,  and  nebulae,  were 
features  of  that  early  universe.  But  had  there  ex- 
isted then  an  astronomer  with  insight  and  vision  to 
discern  the  secret  of  the  movements  of  that  confused 
and  chaotic  world,  he   would  have  perceived  the 


234  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

action  of  the  one  universal  law  of  gravitation,  bring- 
ing into  being  a  cosmos  instead  of  chaos.  Even  so 
in  the  modern  spiritual  world  the  deepest  law  of  its 
total  movement  is  that  which  is  embodied  in  the 
competency  of  the  soul  in  religion  under  God,  the 
equality  of  men  in  direct  approach  to  God  and  of 
believers  in  the  church.  This  is  the  universal  law  of 
spiritual  gravitation.  If  our  moral  and  spiritual  life 
is  to  become  a  "  universe,"  a  cosmos — an  orderly  and 
coherent  kingdom — it  will  be  through  the  action  of 
this  universal  law  of  spiritual  gravitation. 


CHAPTER  XV 

INSTITUTIONAL  AND  ANTI-INSTITUTIONAL 
CHRISTIANITY 

A  Churchless  Christianity. 

There  are  two  tendencies  in  our  day  which  make 
for  a  churchless  Christianity.  Strange  to  say  one  of 
these  is  within  while  the  other  is  without  the  church 
itself.  We  will  note  the  latter  first.  Weary  of  the 
controversies  over  ritual  and  doctrine,  of  heresy 
trials  and  strife  among  the  religious  denominations, 
many  men  of  fine  moral  character,  especially  in 
college  and  university  life,  eschew  all  church  rela- 
tions and  insist  upon  the  sufficiency  of  the  individ- 
ual in  the  culture  of  the  spiritual  life.  These  men 
see  and  appreciate  the  value  of  Christianity  as  a 
means  of  moral  culture  and  seek  thus  to  distil  its 
essence  from  the  outward  forms  and  observances 
with  which  it  has  become  involved. 

Professor  Harnack  in  his  "  Essence  of  Christian- 
ity "  has  fostered  this  tendency  in  his  efifort  to  reduce 
Christianity  to  two  or  three  essential  elements. 
God's  fatherhood  and  human  brotherhood  are  the 
core  of  Christianity — the  glowing  heart  within.  All 
the  rest  is  shell  and  needless  wrapping.  Scores  of 
others  cherish  similiar  views.  Ecclesiastical  Chris- 
tianity with  these  men  is  in  bad  repute.     The  sole 

235 


236  THE   AXIOMS   OF    RELIGION 

need  is  individual  culture,  a  life  "  under  the  eye  and 
in  the  strength  of  God."  The  revolt  is  in  part 
against  dogma  as  well  as  against  church  organiza- 
tion. For  doctrinal  formulae  of  some  kind  are  held 
by  all  the  churches.  These  men  admire  Christianity 
for  its  moral  and  esthetic  value,  but  draw  the  line 
at  creeds  and  church  order. 

The  second  type  of  opinion  which  runs  counter 
to  the  integrity  of  organized  church  life  is  found 
within  the  pale  of  the  church  itself,  and  usually 
among  those  religious  bodies  which  have  the  least 
of  church  organization.  Be  it  said,  however,  that  in 
America  this  tendency  inside  the  churches  is  so 
slight  that  as  yet  it  has  attracted  little  attention.  In 
England  and  Australia  it  is  more  pronounced.  It 
does  not  take  the  form  of  opposition  to  church  organ- 
ization in  so  many  words.  It  rather  promulgates  a 
view  of  the  ordinances  and  the  relation  of  the  be- 
liever to  these,  which  if  consistently  carried  out 
would  destroy  the  church.  In  England  it  takes  the 
form  of  what  is  known  as  the  theory  of  "  open 
membership."  It  holds  that  baptism,  while  com- 
manded by  Christ  and  binding  upon  all  believers  is 
not  a  condition  of  church-membership.  Men  should 
be  received  into  the  church  solely  because  they  sus- 
tain a  personal  relation  to  Christ — that  is,  faith  in 
him  as  Redeemer  and  Lord.  Their  obedience  to  his 
command  to  be  baptized  is  a  private  matter  on 
which  the  church  cannot  sit  in  judgment,  and  as  the 
spiritual  is  always  above  the  formal,  the  vital  above 


INSTITUTIONAL    CHRISTIANITY  237 


the  ceremonial,  the  question  of  baptism  must  be 
waived  in  all  cases  where  the  believing  applicant  for 
church-membership  so  desires.  Naturally  and  nec- 
essarily therefore  obedience  to  Christ  in  observ- 
ing the  Lord's  Supper  would  in  no  way  enter  into 
the  question  of  church-membership.  This  too  is 
private  and  personal. 

Thus  the  church  is  reduced  to  a  society  of  the 
spiritual,  held  together  through  a  common  faith  in 
Christ,  but  entirely  destitute  of  ceremonials  of  any 
kind,  and  without  any  external  badges  to  distinguish 
it  from  other  organizations.  Those  who  hold  this 
view  urge  it  on  the  ground  that  nowhere  in  the 
Scriptures  is  baptism  specifically  declared  to  be  a 
prerequisite  to  church-membership  and  that,  while 
both  are  required  by  Christ,  disobedience  to  one  does 
not  necessarily  carry  with  it  disobedience  to  the 
other.  This  tends  to  dissolve  the  church  entirely 
as  we  shall  soon  see.  The  practical  energies  of 
Christianity  cannot  be  fruitfully  guided  without 
some  external  means  of  giving  them  distinctiveness 
and  character. 

An  Important  Fact  Overlooked. 

Now  the  brethren  who  adhere  to  this  opinion  over- 
look a  very  important  fact.  They  do  not  take  into 
account  that  the  assumptions  of  Scripture  are  the 
most  binding  and  fundamental  of  its  contents.  The 
thing  everywhere  taken  for  granted,  and  coming  to 
light  in  an  incidental  manner  only,  or  assumed  in 


238  THE   AXIOMS    OF   RELIGION 

everything  else  is  most  likely  to  belong  to  the  group 
of  things  never  doubted  and  always  understood  by 
readers  or  hearers.  A  piece  of  music  is  pitched  in  a 
certain  key,  and  while  that  particular  note  may  not 
be  sounded  with  frequency,  it  nevertheless  dominates 
the  whole  performance.  It  is  there  as  a  sort  of 
musical  tether  to  control  the  range  of  sweet  sounds. 
There  is  no  express  command  by  Christ  to  organ- 
ize churches,  but  only  a  declaration  of  his  own  pur- 
pose to  build  his  church.  In  like  manner  baptism  is 
not  declared  formally  to  be  a  condition  of  church- 
membership,  but  only  as  a  duty  universally  binding 
upon  penitent  believers.  Yet  the  apostles  organ- 
ized churches  wherever  they  preached,  and  without 
fail  believers  who  became  members  were  baptized. 
So  that,  just  as  the  New  Testament  Scriptures 
everywhere  assume  the  unity  and  omnipresence  and 
omniscience  of  God  without  explicitly  and  formally 
announcing  these  truths  but  only  in  the  most  inci- 
dental way,  so  also  the  duty  to  organize  churches 
and  the  requirement  of  baptism  along  with  it,  are 
everywhere  assumed.  In  short,  the  "  open  member- 
ship "  plea  so  far  as  it  is  based  on  the  absence  of  an 
express  command  of  Scripture  regarding  baptism 
and  church-membership  would  on  the  same  general 
ground  abolish  the  church  itself. 

Baptism  Precedes  Church-membership. 

That  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament  do  every- 
where assume  that  baptism  precedes  church-mem- 


INSTITUTIONAL    CHRISTIANITY  239 

bership  is  easily  made  clear  by  a  glance  at  a  few 
passages.  The  Commission  in  Matt.  28  :  19  com- 
mands that  disciples  be  made  and  that  these  be 
baptized.^  Certainly  discipleship  and  baptism  are 
thus  bound  up  together  in  a  real  relation,  the  latter 
being  the  fitting  and  required  expression  of  the  dis- 
ciple's attitude  of  obedience  to  Christ.  As  dis- 
cipleship, by  consent  of  the  advocates  of  "  open  mem- 
bership," is  necessary  to  church-membership,  so  also 
baptism,  the  appropriate  act  of  the  disciple  would 
thus  naturally  precede  church-membership.  In 
Gal.  3  :  27  we  read,  "  For  as  many  of  you  as 
were  baptized  into  Christ  did  put  on  Christ."  In 
Col.  2  :  12,  where  the  apostle  is  addressing  Chris- 
tians in  their  collective  capacity  as  a  church, 
he  says  of  them,  "  Having  been  buried  with  him  in 
baptism,  wherein  ye  were  also  raised  with  him 
through  faith  in  the  working  of  God,  who  raised 
him  from  the  dead,"  So  also  in  i  Cor.  12  :  13: 
"  For  in  one  Spirit  were  we  all  baptized  into  one 
body,  whether  Jews  or  Greeks,  whether  bond  or 
free ;  and  were  all  made  to  drink  of  one  Spirit."    In 

'  That  part  of  the  Commission  which  represents  baptism  as  be- 
ing administered  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Spirit 
has  been  called  in  question  by  some  recent  critics  on  the  ground 
that  it  is  the  only  New  Testament  example  of  the  teaching.  Else- 
where the  rule  is  baptism  in  the  name  of  Christ.  Eusebius,  who  has 
a  habit  of  abbreviating  his  quotations,  gives  the  Commission  without 
connecting  baptism  with  the  Trinity,  but  only  with  the  name  of 
Christ.  The  textual  evidence,  however,  is  overwhelmingly  in  favor 
of  the  genuineness  of  the  words.  All  the  Greek  manuscripts  and 
extant  versions  give  them.  The  reader  will  observe  that  this  criti- 
cal question  is  only  indirectly  involved  in  the  above  argument.  The 
position  maintained  stands  regardless  of  the  critical  point  at  issue. 
Critical  objection  to  the  Commission  as  a  whole  rests  on  a  foundation 
too  slender  to  require  discussion  here. 


240  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

verse  twenty-eight  of  the  same  chapter  he  dis- 
tinctly indicates  that  he  is  addressing  the  church 
and  giving  instructions  for  its  guidance.  Such 
passages  might  be  multiplied.  They  do  not  contain 
a  distinct  declaration  in  a  formal  and  explicit  way 
that  every  believer  must  be  baptized  before  uniting 
with  the  church.  But  underlying  them  all  is  this 
assumption.  It  was  understood  by  all  and  disputed 
by  none.  And  the  things  thus  assumed  enter  into 
the  warp  and  woof  of  New  Testament  experience, 
thought,  and  life.  The  process  by  which  a  crystal 
is  formed  in  nature  is  determined  by  fixed  laws.  Its 
angles  and  faces  come  into  being  in  a  stated  way. 
He  would  be  a  poor  naturalist  who  should  state  the 
formula  for  the  formation  of  crystals  and  ignore  a 
part  of  the  process  uniformly  present.  The  same 
principle  applies  to  the  formation  of  churches. 

To  deny  the  necessity  of  baptism  as  a  condition 
of  church-membership  because  not  explicitly  com- 
manded requires  that  we  also  deny  faith  and  re- 
pentance and  regeneration  as  conditions.  For 
nowhere  are  these  explicitly  commanded  as  condi- 
tions. They  are  everywhere  assumed.  In  fact  the 
"  open  membership  "  plea  which  rejects  baptism  as 
a  condition  of  church-membership  is  a  two-edged 
sword.  It  cuts  both  ways.  It  dissolves  the  church 
as  the  social  expression  of  the  life  of  the  kingdom 
of  God  into  an  individual  and  subjective  principle 
which  leaves  each  man  free  to  do  as  he  wills.  It 
plays  directly  into  the  hands  of  the  men  described 


INSTITUTIONAL    CHRISTIANITY  24I 

at  the  opening  of  this  chapter  who  repudiate  the 
church  entirely  and  hold  that  the  individual  is  suf- 
ficient unto  himself  in  spiritual  culture. 

A  False  Assumption. 

The  advocates  of  "  open  membership  "  not  only 
overlook  a  pervading  assumption  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. They  introduce  a  false  one  of  their  own, 
viz.,  that  baptism  as  a  required  condition  of  church- 
membership  interferes  in  some  way  with  Christian 
liberty.  It  is  conceded  by  them  that  baptism  is  a 
binding  obligation  and  that  church-membership  also 
is  commanded.  The  making  of  one  a  condition  of 
the  other  is  what  they  deny  and  assert  to  be  sub- 
versive of  our  liberty  in  Christ.  But  if  so  then  to 
require  any  positive  or  ceremonial  act  of  obedience 
subverts  our  liberty.  If  I  should  adjudge  baptism 
worthless  for  my  spiritual  culture  and  church-mem- 
bership also  valueless,  as  so  many  do,  why  am  I 
adjudged  disobedient  if  I  refuse  both?  My  liberty 
in  Christ  would  be  thus  assailed.  But  it  is  replied 
these  are  commanded  by  Christ,  and  we  must  obey 
them.  Are  they?  Where  is  there  an  express  com- 
mand that  all  believers  unite  with  the  church? 
Moreover  to  require  baptism  as  a  condition  of 
church-membership  involves  no  infraction  of  the 
law  of  liberty  in  Christ  not  wrapped  up  also  in  the 
two  commands  to  be  baptized  and  to  become  church- 
members  when  these  are  taken  separately.  Let  us 
not  be  deceived.  Christian  liberty  is  not  in  peril, 
Q 


242  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

nor  even  called  in  question  here.  Liberty  easily 
runs  into  license.  If  the  Scriptures  join  baptism 
and  church-membership  together  uniformly  it  savors 
of  license  to  attempt  to  separate  them. 

Faith  in  Christ  is  urged  by  the  advocates  of  "  open 
membership  "  as  the  sole  condition  of  union  with  the 
church,  although  they  concede  that  for  this  they  have 
no  express  statement  of  Scripture.  But  there  are 
various  degrees  and  grades  of  faith.  To  accept 
Christ  as  a  great  teacher  does  not  imply  necessarily 
that  vital  and  saving  faith  is  present.  There  are 
various  degrees  of  historic  and  intellectual  faith  in 
Christ,  and  to  make  faith  alone  the  condition  of 
membership  would  be  to  leave  the  whole  conception 
of  faith  misty  and  vague.  Baptism  safeguards  this 
point  in  a  remarkable  manner  in  that  it  fixes  the  con- 
tents of  faith.  It  has  no  meaning  save  as  an  act  of 
personal  obedience  to  Christ  in  which  the  essentials 
of  vital  and  saving  faith  are  symbolized.  The 
frozen  particles  which  enter  into  the  formation  of  a 
snowflake  are  in  themselves  colorless  and  trans- 
parent like  water  or  ordinary  ice.  The  beauty  of 
the  snowflake  comes  as  the  result  of  the  sunlight 
falling  upon  the  frozen  particles,  imparting  a 
heavenly  whiteness  which  transfigures  them.  It  is 
the  truth  symbolized  which  imparts  its  meaning  and 
its  beauty  to  baptism.  From  it  is  flashed  back  the 
saving  message  of  the  gospel.  The  ordinance  keeps 
faith  pure.  It  interprets  religious  experience  to 
the  obedient  soul.     It  keeps  faith  directed  toward 


INSTITUTIONAL    CHRISTIANITY  243 

its  proper  object  and  in  its  true  channel.  Otherwise 
faith  widens  Hke  some  mountain  stream  as  it  de- 
scends toward  the  plain,  leaving  its  proper  channel, 
spreading  in  sluggish  flow  over  a  wide  region,  and 
finally  disappears  in  the  sand. 

Another  Plea  Urged. 

Another  plea  is  urged  in  favor  of  "  open  member- 
ship "  to  the  effect  that  to  require  baptism  as  a  condi- 
tion of  church-membership  is  to  impose  a  condition 
for  entrance  into  the  church  not  required  for  en- 
trance into  the  kingdom  of  God.  This  has  a  plaus- 
ible look  only.  There  are  two  possible  replies.  Some 
might  urge  that  baptism  is  the  ceremonial  door  into 
the  kingdom,  and  the  teaching  in  John  3  :  5  cited 
in  proof.  This  would  place  entrance  into  church 
and  kingdom  on  precisely  the  same  basis  on  the 
ceremonial  side.  The  New  Testament  does  not  con- 
template the  presence  in  the  kingdom  of  any  who 
are  unbaptized  as  the  normal  condition.  The  New 
Testament  instances,  as  of  the  dying  thief,  are 
obviously  exceptional  and  not  normal  cases.  This 
would  of  course  leave  the  question  of  spiritual 
qualifications  for  entrance  into  the  kingdom  unaf- 
fected. It  would  simply  assert  that  the  same  cere- 
monial observance  is  placed  at  the  entrance  of  both 
church  and  kingdom. 

The  passage  in  John  is  not  entirely  clear,  how- 
ever, and  it  cannot  be  asserted  that  the  above  answer 
has  explicit  New  Testament  warrant,  although  it 


244  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

will  appeal  to  some  minds  strongly.  There  remains, 
however,  another  reply.  Church  and  kingdom  are 
not  identical  as  we  have  sought  to  show  in  a  pre- 
ceding chapter.  The  church  has  officers,  the  king- 
dom has  not.  The  church  is  local,  the  kingdom  is 
a  comprehensive  movement  and  power  on  earth. 
The  church  reproduces  the  spiritual  elements  of  the 
kingdom,  but  as  it  has  a  specific  task  and  a  definite 
organization  it  is  not  at  all  proper  to  reduce  them  to 
the  same  terms  as  to  organization  and  external  form. 
The  plea  for  "  open  membership  "  has  taken  yet 
another  form.  Let  Baptists  accept  sprinkling  as 
baptism.  Let  us  insist  on  this  mode  or  some  mode, 
but  let  us  accept  anything  as  baptism  which  passes 
current  in  the  Christian  world.  It  is  claimed  that 
if  we  should  adopt  this  position  we  would  gain  many 
members  whom  we  cannot  now  receive,  people  who 
have  been  sprinkled  and  who  belong  properly  in 
other  denominations.  Also,  it  would  give  a  new 
sense  of  unity  to  the  Christian  world  and  bring 
Baptists  into  line  with  other  bodies,  and  thus  we 
would  cease  to  be  sectarian.  Again,  it  would  bring 
the  note  of  reality  into  our  life  and  take  the  em- 
phasis from  the  formal  and  ceremonial.  Best  of  all 
it  would  assist  Baptists  where  their  power  is  wa- 
ning and  where  they  appear  to  be  leading  a  forlorn 
hope.  In  short  it  would  lift  us  to  a  higher  spiritual 
plane  and  enable  us  to  realize  our  destiny.^ 

*  See  "  Shall  We  Go  Forward?  "  a  plea  addressed  to  American 
Baptists  for  a  larger  conception  of  their  mission.  By  Rev.  E.  F. 
Snell,  West  Newton,  Mass. 


INSTITUTIONAL    CHRISTIANITY  245 

This  plea,  however,  will  scarcely  carry  conviction 
to  the  Baptist  family.  Without  doubt  we  would 
gain  a  member  here  and  there  whom  we  do  not 
now  receive;  but  there  would  be  no  urgent  reason 
for  them  to  join  us  if,  as  is  alleged,  we  are  to  seek  a 
common  basis  of  church  life  with  other  denomina- 
tions. The  plea  for  "  open  membership  "  in  the  full 
sense — that  is  for  church-membership  without  bap- 
tism in  any  form,  is  a  stronger  one  than  this.  For 
sprinkling  as  baptism  destroys  the  meaning  of  the 
ordinance  from  the  Baptist  point  of  view.  In  the 
other  case  immersion  is  urged  as  the  Scriptural 
form  of  baptism  and  insisted  upon  as  a  duty,  but  is 
not  required  as  a  condition  of  church-membership. 

The  chief  argument  which  is  urged  for  accepting 
sprinkling,  for  extending  our  definition  of  baptism, 
is  its  effect  in  increasing  our  spiritual  power  and  in 
imparting  greater  efficiency.  This  is  a  total  mis- 
conception of  the  relation  of  spiritual  causes  to 
spiritual  effects.  It  really  assumes  that  baptism  and 
questions  regarding  baptism  are  fundamental  among 
spiritual  causes  and  forces.  We  might  modify  our 
views  of  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  and  church 
polity  every  decade  with  a  view  to  increased  spirit- 
ual power.  But  it  would  be  without  effect.  The 
causes  lie  deeper.  The  announcement  that  all  Bap- 
tist churches  had  decided  to  accept  sprinkled  per- 
sons as  members  would  doubtless  create  a  momen- 
tary excitement  in  the  Christian  world,  but  it  would 
of  itself  bring  no  revival  of  religion.    It  would  not 


246  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

increase  one  whit  the  force  of  our  general  appeal  to 
men  to  accept  Christ,  but  would  rather  weaken  it. 
Where  Baptist  churches  are  inefficient  they  would 
remain  inefficient.  It  is  a  very  inadequate  diagnosis 
of  spiritual  conditions  which  imagines  that  a  sur- 
render of  a  clearly  taught  scriptural  form  of  bap- 
tism in  the  interest  of  expediency  and  catholicity 
would  rejuvenate  the  churches  which  have  yielded 
to  the  secular  and  materialistic  forces  of  the  age  to 
the  serious  injury  of  their  spiritual  life.  It  would  be 
like  trying  to  restore  the  falling  timbers  of  a  great 
building  to  their  places  by  means  of  mucilage,  or  to 
bail  out  the  water  from  a  foundering  ship  with  a 
teacup. 

Ceremonies  have  their  proper  place  in  religion 
as  we  shall  see  in  a  moment.  They  are  of  exceed- 
ing value  in  so  far  as  they  accurately  express  life 
and  truth  and  for  the  specific  ends  with  reference  to 
which  they  were  given.  They  do  not  produce  life. 
The  proposal  to  modify  baptism  or  other  of  the  ex- 
ternals of  Christianity  in  the  interest  of  convenience 
or  expediency  merely  implies  two  radically  defec- 
tive suppositions.  The  first  is  that  in  externals  in 
ordinances  and  polity  the  church  should  modify  its 
practice  whenever  expediency  calls  for  it.  To  abol- 
ish entirely  not  only  baptism  but  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per if  necessary  would  be  in  direct  line  with  the 
view.  The  externals  of  religion  have  rested  on 
some  kind  of  conviction,  some  sense  of  fitness  and 
right  hitherto,  in  all  the  Christian  bodies.   The  pro- 


INSTITUTIONAL    CHRISTIANITY  247 

posal  we  are  considering  removes  the  element  of 
moral  conviction  entirely  from  our  regard  for  the 
ordinances.  The  second  implied  presupposition  in 
the  proposal  is  that  external  forms  which  symbolize 
and  express  life  merely  can  be  converted  into  spirit- 
ual causes  which  produce  life.  The  assumption  is 
that  by  manipulating  ordinances  we  can  create 
spiritual  changes  and  rejuvenate  the  church.  Lurk- 
ing in  this  view  are  contradictory  conceptions  of 
the  ordinances  themselves :  one  that  they  are  sacra- 
ments with  life-giving  power,  the  other  that  as  they 
may  be  modified  at  will  they  have  no  binding  power 
upon  conscience  at  all.  Among  Baptists,  who  are 
anti-sacramental,  the  latter  tendency  would  prevail 
in  the  end  if  encouraged  generally,  and  what  little 
of  ecclesiastical  order  we  have  would  soon  be  dis- 
solved entirely. 

Another  Matter  of  Vital  Importance. 

This  leads  to  another  matter  of  vital  importance. 
Those  who  plead  for  "  open  membership  "  in  our 
churches  and  those  who  cleave  to  the  view  that  the 
church  is  needless,  overlook  alike  a  great  teaching  of 
history.  They  really  raise  the  far-reaching  question 
whether  Christianity  was  or  was  not  designed  by  its 
founder  to  be  an  institutional  religion.  They  plant 
themselves  on  the  platform  that  Christianity  is  anti- 
institutional.  The  "  open  membership  "  plea  does  this 
as  well  as  the  other  view  we  are  considering;  be- 
cause for  Baptists  to  exclude  the  two  simple  or- 


248  THE   AXIOMS   OF    RELIGION 

dinances  from  the  essentials  of  church  organization 
is  to  leave  nothing,  for  them  at  least,  from  which  an 
outward  church  organization  can  receive  distinctive 
character.  A  flag  is  a  slight  thing,  a  mere  badge  or 
symbol.  Yet  a  nation  without  a  flag  would  be  at  a 
tremendous  disadvantage  in  peace  and  war.  The 
flag  kindles  the  spirit  of  loyalty  and  enthusiasm  in 
time  of  peace.  In  war  an  army  without  a  flag  would 
be  in  great  measure  helpless,  a  navy  would  be  ex- 
posed to  attack  from  friend  and  foe  alike.  A  vol- 
untary assemblage  of  people  claiming  to  be  spiritual 
but  with  no  outward  badge  or  conditions  of  member- 
ship would  soon  lose  its  identity  as  a  church  and  take 
its  place  with  other  human  organizations  maintained 
for  moral  purposes  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  akin 
to  those  of  the  church.  Infants  might  be  received 
and  enrolled,  as  in  the  "  cradle  roll  "  of  Sunday- 
school.  Inquirers  and  searchers  after  truth  would 
like  to  enter  the  circle  and  environment  of  the  spirit- 
ual, for  obvious  reasons,  and  with  nothing  to  test 
or  sift,  with  no  external  means  of  determining  the 
real  character  of  the  applicant  there  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  the  church  would  not  lose  its  character 
entirely. 

The  fact  is  that  no  great  historic  force  in  the  re- 
ligious or  political  life  of  the  race  has  ever  impressed 
the  world  profoundly  or  changed  it  radically  without 
taking  on  institutional  form.  Christianity  is  not 
exempt  from  the  law.  The  Quakers  ignore  the  or- 
dinances.    They   are   simply   the   assembly  of  the 


INSTITUTIONAL    CHRISTIANITY  249 

spiritual.  But  Christ  has  grown  dim  in  their  Con- 
fessions of  Faith  and  his  is  a  waning  figure  in  their 
experience.  Unitarians  also  abjure  the  ordinances, 
but  where  have  they  shown  power  to  grapple  with 
the  great  practical  and  missionary  movements  for 
the  spiritual  regeneration  of  the  race?  No  great  re- 
ligious body  since  the  New  Testament  was  written 
has  ever  attempted  with  any  sort  of  success  an  anti- 
institutional  form  of  Christianity.  Great  truths  and 
ideals  must  have  institutional  embodiment  if  they 
are  to  become  great  historic  forces. 

Vital  Elements  Symbolized. 

Now  baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper  together 
symbolize  all  the  vital  elements  in  Christianity. 
Baptism  accents  the  individual  and  the  Supper  the 
social  aspect  of  the  gospel.  The  life  and  creed  of 
the  church  are  reflected  in  them.  The  "  open  mem- 
bership "  plea  tears  asunder  this  parallel  between  the 
life  and  the  symbols  of  life.  To  remove  the  cere- 
monial barrier  between  the  church  and  the  world 
would  mean  in  time  the  removal  also  of  the  spiritual 
barrier.  The  spiritual  principles  and  ideals  would 
become  corrupted.  The  necessary  proportion  and 
symmetry  of  statement  and  emphasis  would  be  lost, 
whole  truths  would  become  half-truths,  vital  and 
saving  faith  would  become  intellectual  and  historic 
faith,  the  church  as  a  redemptive  and  militant 
spiritual  force  would  become  a  social  club  with 
moral  and  esthetic  ideals. 


250  the  axioms  of  religion 

Church  Not  Mechanically  Constructed. 

The  New  Testament  church  arose  as  the  result 
of  a  vital  process.  It  was  not  mechanically  con- 
structed by  Jesus  through  formal  commands  or 
through  a  statute  book  of  legislative  enactments 
after  the  manner  of  the  tabernacle  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. The  Spirit  guided  the  early  Christians.  There 
were  elements  both  formal  and  vital  out  of  which  the 
church  was  constructed.  Baptism  and  the  Supper 
and  external  organization  were  the  formal,  regen- 
erated life  and  social  worship  and  effort  were  the 
vital.  These  elements  were  taken  up  one  by  one  as 
the  church  advanced,  by  a  sort  of  vital  integration, 
like  the  cells  of  an  organism.  None  of  them  are 
expressly  prescribed  as  timber  out  of  which  to  build 
the  church.  All  are  assumed.  What  we  have  in 
the  New  Testament  therefore  is  a  constructive  spirit- 
ual process  going  on  under  our  eyes.  It  is  redeemed 
and  regenerated  life,  under  the  guidance  of  God's 
Spirit,  readjusting  itself  according  to  its  own  re- 
newed nature,  saved  men  expressing  the  saving  im- 
pulse in  a  practical  way.  The  result  is  the  church  and 
its  ordinances.  Or,  to  put  the  same  truth  in  slightly 
different  language,  it  was  the  kingdom  of  God 
acting  under  a  twofold  impulse,  that  of  redemptive 
love  and  that  of  self-preservation.  The  church  is 
the  device,  so  to  speak,  for  the  realization  of  both 
these  ideals  of  the  kingdom.  The  kingdom  is  like 
the  current  of  electricity  in  the  telegraph  wire.    The 


INSTITUTIONAL    CHRISTIANITY  25 1 

church  is  Hke  the  instrument  in  the  office  where  the 
current  is  localized,  where  the  kingdom  utters  itself. 
The  kingdom  is  like  the  sunlight  traveling  ninety 
million  miles  to  this  earth  to  brighten  and  to  bless. 
The  church  answers  to  the  flowers  and  fruits  which 
the  sunlight  creates  lest  its  long  journey  be  made  in 
vain.  Lest  the  rays  of  the  sun  be  utterly  wasted 
nature  must  respond  in  concrete  visible  forms.  Lest 
the  energy  of  the  kingdom  come  to  naught  churches 
must  gather  it  up  and  reproduce  it.  The  institu- 
tional idea  of  course,  like  every  other,  can  be  carried 
too  far.  Ordinances  and  forms  may  be  multiplied 
and  transformed  into  instruments  of  spiritual 
tyranny  until  a  great  hierarchy  is  created  and 
Christianity  loses  its  distinctive  power  as  a  spiritual 
religion.    This  is  one  extreme. 

Another  Extreme. 

The  other  extreme  is  to  discard  all  institu- 
tional forms.  This  leaves  the  community  of 
believers,  so  to  speak,  gasping  in  a  vacuum.  They 
are  thus  left  powerless  to  define  their  aims  and 
purposes  on  the  stage  of  history.  They  have 
no  visible  outline  as  an  organized  power  and 
hence  cannot  challenge  the  attention  of  men.  The 
Abbe  Loisy  says,  "  History  knows  of  no  instance 
of  a  religion  without  a  cult,  and  consequently 
Christian  ritual  should  cause  no  surprise.  But  one 
easily  conceives  that  if  the  essence  of  Christianity  is 
such  as  Harnack  has  defined,  such  a  pure  Christianity 


252  THE  AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

excludes  all  external  forms  of  worship.  That  would 
be  a  peculiar  religion  designed  for  a  legion  of 
angels,  of  which  every  individual  constitutes  a  sepa- 
rate species,  and  not  of  men  destined  to  live  together 
on  earth,"  ^  To  this  we  may  add  a  statement  from 
Sabatier,  who  is  of  course  not  in  harmony  with  the 
Abbe  Loisy  on  many  questions,  but  who  clearly 
recognizes  the  peril  of  mere  individualism  in  religion 
and  the  rejection  of  all  church  life.  He  says  :  "  The 
Protestant  Christian  who  isolates  himself,  believing 
that  he  can  draw  all  religious  truth  from  the  Bible 
for  his  individual  inspiration,  lives  and  thinks  in  un- 
reality. His  intellectual  obstinacy  springs  from  ig- 
norance and  keeps  him  in  it.  We  have  need  one  of 
another,  quite  as  much  from  the  point  of  view  of 
the  moral  life  as  of  material  existence.  .  .  Only  in 
this  social  solidarity  can  the  Christian  life  blossom 
out,  and  find  at  once  health  and  security.  An  un- 
social Christianity  is  a  stunted  and  sterile  Christi- 
anity." ^  De  Tocqueville  has  given  a  clear  statement 
of  the  general  principle :  "  I  firmly  believe  in  the 
necessity  of  forms,  which  fix  the  human  mind  in  the 
contemplation  of  abstract  truths,  and  stimulate  its 
ardor  in  the  pursuit  of  them,  while  they  invigorate 
its  powers  of  retaining  them  steadfastly.  Nor  do 
I  suppose  that  it  is  possible  to  maintain  a  religion 
without  external  observances  ;  but  on  the  other  hand, 
I  am  persuaded  that,  in  the  ages  upon  which  we 

^  "  L'Evangile  et  L'Eglise,"  p.  121. 

2  "  Religions  of  Authority  and  The   Religion  of  the  Spirit,"  pp. 
340,  341- 


INSTITUTIONAL   CHRISTIANITY  253 

are  entering  it  would  be  peculiarly  dangerous  to 
multiply  them  beyond  measure;  and  that  they 
ought  rather  to  be  limited  to  as  much  as  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  perpetuate  the  doctrine  itself,  which  is 
the  substance  of  religion  of  which  the  ritual  is  only 
the  form.  A  religion  which  should  become  more 
minute,  more  peremptory,  and  more  surcharged 
with  small  observances  at  a  time  in  which  men  are 
becoming  more  equal,  would  soon  find  itself  reduced 
to  a  band  of  fanatical  zealots  in  the  midst  of  an 
infidel  people"  ^ 

Discussion  Summed  Up. 

We  may  now  sum  up  the  substance  of  the  preced- 
ing discussion  thus :  The  advocates  of  the  "  open 
membership  "  idea  in  Baptist  churches  virtually  rob 
Christianity  of  its  only  distinctive  institutional 
features.  Thus  they  join  forces  with  the  moral  cul- 
turists  who  renounce  the  church  entirely.  This  posi- 
tion is  directly  at  variance  with  the  New  Testament 
which  exhibits  the  kingdom  of  God  expressing 
itself  for  purposes  of  conquest  in  the  form  of  the 
church  with  its  ordinances.  It  is  at  variance  with 
practical  wisdom  which  inevitably  contrives  instru- 
ments for  the  execution  of  distinct  ends.  It  is  op- 
posed to  the  consensus  of  Christendom  which  has 
for  two  thousand  years  recognized  and  insisted  upon 
the  necessary  relations  between  the  ordinances  and 
the  church.     It  violates  the  philosophy  of  history 

*  "  Democracy  in  America,"  Vol.  II,  p.  26. 


254  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

which  recognizes  the  necessary  connection  between 
triumphant  ideas  and  institutions  which  embody 
them. 

Finally,  we  remark  that  while  all  the  above  is  true, 
while  institutions  and  ceremonies  within  limits  are 
necessary  to  give  distinctness  and  historic  impres- 
siveness  to  any  set  of  religious  ideas  destined  to 
play  a  large  part  in  the  world's  life,  we  must  never- 
theless carefully  distinguish  between  the  causes  and 
the  outward  expressions  of  religious  life.  We  must 
seek  to  adjust  the  ceremonies  and  forms  to  the 
essential  nature  of  the  life  and  to  its  characteristic 
ideas,  because  this  is  the  only  stable  adjustment 
which  is  possible.  Congruity  is  the  fundamental 
law  of  the  relations  between  life  and  form.  It  is  the 
law  in  nature  as  well  as  in  poetry,  in  sculpture,  in 
music,  and  all  other  art.  In  religion  the  law  holds 
good.  Ideas,  spiritual  forces,  follow  the  law  of  con- 
gruity in  the  creation  of  ceremonies  and  in  organ- 
ization. That  is  to  say,  the  form  expresses,  em- 
bodies, or  symbolizes  the  life ;  otherwise  it  has  no 
function,  serves  no  end.  The  New  Testament  obeys 
this  law  of  congruity.  So  should  we.  We  must  not, 
on  the  other  hand,  commit  the  blunder  of  confound- 
ing ceremonial  and  symbolic  expressions  of  life 
with  the  life-giving  forces  which  lie  in  the  back- 
ground of  all  forms  and  ceremonies.  When  we 
would  rejuvenate  our  Christianity  and  bring  the 
tides  of  spiritual  life  back  again  we  must  seek  the 
eternal  sources  of  life  in  the  spiritual  sphere. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE   CONTRIBUTION   OF  THE   BAPTISTS  TO  AMERICAN 
CIVILIZATION  ^ 

I  read  some  years  ago  a  book  by  Sir  Walter 
Besant,  entitled  "  Building  the  Empire,"  in  which 
he  sketches  the  development  of  the  British  empire. 
I  was  startled  to  observe  that  he  excludes  Ireland 
and  India  from  the  British  empire  and  includes 
Australia,  Canada,  and  the  United  States.  But 
when  I  came  to  understand  his  point  of  view  I  was 
disposed  to  concede  that  in  some  sense  of  the  word 
in  his  inclusion  of  the  United  States  and  his  rejec- 
tion of  the  other  countries  he  was  correct.  He 
meant  that  British  ideas  of  liberty  had  come  to 
fruitage  in  the  United  States.  In  this  sense  of  the 
word  we  may  regard  American  civilization  as  a 
Baptist  empire,  for  at  the  basis  of  this  government 
lies  a  great  group  of  Baptist  ideals. 

Civilization  and  Society. 

Civilization  is  the  movement  of  human  society 
under  the  influence  of  general  ideas.  As  an  ava- 
lanche is  a  movement  of  a  mountain-side  under  the 
action  of  gravity,  or  as  the  tides  are  the  move- 

'  All  address  delivered  at  the  Baptist  Convention  of  North 
America,  held  at  Jamestown,  Va.,  May,  1907- 


256  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

ment  of  the  sea  under  the  attractive  power  of  the 
moon,  so  civilization  is  the  movement  of  the  social 
organism  under  the  sway  of  great  general  concep- 
tions. In  the  Dark  Ages  the  chaos  was  due  to  the 
conflict  of  general  ideas.  Theocracy  in  the  form  of 
a  papacy,  aristocracy  in  the  feudal  system,  democ- 
racy in  the  free  cities,  and  monarchy  in  the  rise  of 
the  centralized  governments  of  Europe  in  turn  tried 
their  hand  at  guiding  human  destiny.  All  failed 
because  no  one  principle  or  consistent  set  of  prin- 
ciples gained  the  ascendency.  Hence  the  dream  of 
medieval  Europe  was  unlike  that  of  Joseph  in  the 
biblical  story  in  which  one  sheaf  of  social  ideals 
arose  in  the  midst  and  the  other  sheaves  stood 
around  and  did  obeisance  to  it;  it  was  rather  a 
wild  delirium  of  conflicting  ideals  in  which  the 
sleeper  was  dimly  conscious  of  a  coming  day  of 
better  things,  but  had  no  clear  conception  of  what 
it  was  to  be.  That  day  was  ushered  in  by  Martin 
Luther. 

The  historian  Hase  says  that  since  the  Reforma- 
tion the  movement  of  civilization  has  turned  on  the 
conflict  between  the  Catholic  and  the  Protestant 
principles ;  that  is,  the  conflict  between  human 
authority  and  human  freedom.  A  glance  at  history 
confirms  this.  The  thirty  years'  war  in  Europe,  the 
struggle  of  the  Dutch  Republic,  the  English  Revolu- 
tion under  Cromwell,  the  American  Revolution,  the 
tragedy  of  the  French  Revolution,  and  the  conflict 
in  modern  Italy,  as  well  as  the  current  revolution 


BAPTISTS   AND  AMERICAN    CIVILIZATION         257 

in  Russia,  are  all  echoes  of  the  deep  cry  of  man  for 
freedom,  the  rise  of  the  sense  of  the  inherent  worth 
and  the  inalienable  rights  of  man  against  tyranny. 
De  Tocqueville  has  remarked  that  this  same  princi- 
ple is  the  fundamental  issue  in  all  American  politics 
which  finds  expression  in  two  tendencies — first,  the 
tendency  to  extend  and  secondly,  the  tendency  to 
limit  the  power  of  the  people. 

A  fundamental  law  of  all  civilization  is  that  po- 
litical and  religious  lifjs  travel  on  parallel  roads. 
They  never  diverge  greatly  in  direction,  so  far  as 
the  great  organizing  principles  are  concerned.  Re- 
ligion is  the  ultimate  fact  of  man,  and  civilization 
is  the  dim  reproduction  of  religion.  Now  my  thesis 
at  present  is  that  the  Baptists  have  furnished  the 
sheaf  of  religious  ideals  around  which  the  others 
have  gathered  and  have  done  obeisance;  that  those 
ideals  have  imparted  their  peculiar  glory  to  our  tem- 
poral and  political  organization ;  that  they  have 
fallen  from  heaven  on  the  hard  forms  of  earthly 
power  and  glorified  them,  like  a  sunbeam  dancing 
on  the  helmet  of  Achilles,  or  like  the  sunlight  gild- 
ing and  glorifying  the  darkened  face  of  the  moon 
until  the  latter  shone  with  a  power  capable  of  guid- 
ing the  benighted  traveler  to  his  destination.  I  do 
not  of  course  claim  that  Baptists  have  a  monopoly 
of  these  ideals,  that  in  no  sense  have  others  advo- 
cated any  of  them.  It  is  a  question  rather  of  de- 
grees, and  what  I  maintain  is  that  no  other  religious 
body  has  adequately  set  them  forth,  and  that  the 


258  THE   AXIOMS    OF   RELIGION 

Baptists  have  done  so.  The  contritmtion  of  Bap- 
tists to  American  civilization  may  be  stated  under  a 
fivefold  classification. 

Baptists  Interpreters  of  the  Reformation. 

I.  Baptists  have  been  the  only  adequate  in- 
terpreters of  the  Reformation.  The  advocates  of 
any  great  movement  in  religion  or  politics  may 
usually  be  divided  into  two  classes — the  practical 
men,  the  men  of  compromises  and  expedients  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  idealists  on  the  other,  the 
men  who  in  their  practice  carry  out  the  logic  of  the 
movement  to  the  utmost  limit,  tolerating  no  com- 
promises and  scorning  every  tendency  to  temporize, 
and  ready  always  to  lay  down  their  lives.  Such 
were  the  Anabaptists  of  the  Reformation,  the  ideal- 
ists who  alone  stood  for  all  that  the  great  movement 
signified.  In  the  abandon  of  their  devotion  they 
did  many  extravagant  things.  When  the  Scrip- 
tures said,  "  Except  ye  be  converted  and  become 
as  little  children  ye  cannot  enter  the  kingdom  of 
heaven,"  they  proceeded  to  make  mud  pies  and  to 
ride  stick  horses.  When  the  Scriptures  said,  "  What 
ye  hear  in  the  ear  in  the  inner  chambers  proclaim 
from  the  housetops,"  they  mounted  the  roofs  of  the 
houses  and  preached  to  the  passers-by.  This  was 
folly  indeed,  but  also  remarkable  courage. 

Now  Luther  and  Calvin  and  Zwingli  suflfered  the 
Reformation  ideal  to  pass  into  eclipse  in  large 
measure.    In  their  adherence  to  the  union  of  Church 


BAPTISTS   AND  AMERICAN    CIVILIZATION         259 


and  State  they  repudiated  the  modern  reHgio-civic 
axiom,  "  A  free  Church  in  a  free  State."  In  their 
retention  of  infant  baptism  they  violated  the  re- 
Hgious  axiom  that  all  souls  have  an  equal  right  to 
direct  access  to  God,  and  in  principle  repudiated 
their  own  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith  and  the 
right  of  private  judgment  in  religion.  Thus  they 
introduced  Romanism  into  Protestantism  and  per- 
petuated a  double  principle  of  religion,  a  double  con- 
ception of  salvation,  a  confusing  and  disastrous 
attempt  to  mingle  the  gold  of  the  Reformation 
with  the  clay  of  medieval  Christianity.  The 
churches  which  retain  infant  baptism  and  Protestant 
countries  which  have  religious  establishments  have 
never  been  able  to  cast  off  this  burden. 

The  Anabaptists  in  Germany  and  the  Netherlands 
and  their  spiritual  successors,  the  Baptists  of  Eng- 
land, from  the  beginning  grasped  the  inner  logic 
of  the  Reformation,  and  were  from  two  to  three 
hundred  years  in  advance  of  others.  That  they  did 
grasp  the  inner  logic  of  the  Reformation  is  seen  i^i 
many  ways :  in  their  assertion  of  the  freedom  of  the 
individual  and  the  autonomy  of  the  local  church 
under  Christ  for  one  thing.  The  Baptists  declared 
for  separation  of  Church  and  State  in  their  earliest 
Confessions.  The  Presbyterians  a  few  years  ago 
demanded  a  revision  of  their  doctrinal  standards  be- 
cause there  was  no  sufficiently  explicit  teaching  in 
them  on  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  on  world- 
wide missions.     In  the  Baptist  creeds  of  the  early 


26o  THE   AXIOMS    OF   RELIGION 

seventeenth   century  there   are   formal  articles  on 
both.^ 

The  denominations  generally,  except  Baptists, 
have  been  much  perplexed  over  the  salvation  of  in- 
fants dying  in  infancy,  until  recent  years.  Our 
Confession  of  1660  contains  a  distinct  art'icle  de- 
claring that  all  infants  dying  in  infancy  are  saved. 
I  quote  Article  10,  p.  112:  "  That  all  children  dying 
in  infancy,  having  not  actually  transgressed  against 
the  law  of  God  in  their  own  persons,  are  only  sub- 
ject to  the  first  death,  which  comes  upon  them  by  the 
first  Adam,  from  whence  they  shall  be  all  raised 
by  the  second  Adam,  and  not  that  any  one  of  them 
(dying  in  that  estate)  shall  suffer  for  Adam's  sin 
eternal  punishment  in  hell  (which  is  the  second 
death),  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  i 
Cor.  15  :  22;  Matt.  19  :  14;  not  daring  to  con- 
clude with  that  uncharitable  opinion  of  others,  who 
though  they  pleaded  much  for  the  bringing  of  chil- 
dren into  the  visible  church  here  on  earth  by  bap- 
tism, yet  nevertheless,  by  their  doctrine  that  Christ 
died  but  for  some,  shut  a  great  part  of  them  out  of 

1  On  missions  note  Article  34,  Confession  of  1656,  of  several 
churches  of  Christ  in  the  County  of  Somerset,  England,  which  says 
(p.   96   of  "Confessions"): 

"  That  as  it  is  an  ordinance  of  Christ,  so  it  is  the  duty  of  his 
church  in  his  authority  to  send  forth  such  brethren  as  are  fitly 
gifted  and  qualified  through  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  to  preach  the 
gospel  to  the  world." 

This  article  also  quotes  Acts  13  :  1-3  on  the  separation  of  Saul 
and  Barnabas  to  the  mission  work,  and  Acts  11  :  22;    8  :   14. 

Note    also    Article    4,    Confession    of    1660 

On  the  Holy  Spirit.  Articles  18,  19,  and  20,  Confession  of  1656, 
give  an  elaborate  account  of  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  all 
about  four  pages.  Also  Article  7,  Confession  of  1660,  p.  3.  Also 
Article  12,  Confession  of  1660,  pp.  113,  127. 


BAPTISTS  AND  AMERICAN   CIVILIZATION         261 

tiie  kingdom  of  heaven  forever."     More  on  this 
point  is  contained  in  Article  44,  Confession  of  1678, 

p.  163. 

And  so  in  other  respects  Baptists  have  embodied 
in  their  Hfe  the  consistent  working  out  of  the  great 
principles  and  ideals  of  the  Reformation. 

Spiritual  Interpretation  of  Christianity. 

2.  Baptists  have  furnished  to  American  civiliza- 
tion the  most  spiritual  interpretation  of  Christianity 
the  world  has  seen. 

This  interpretation  is  seen  in  the  following:  We 
hold  to  believers'  baptism  because  it  prevents  fic- 
titious naturalization  in  the  kingdom  of  God ;  we 
reject  the  principle  of  vicarious  faith  involved  in 
infant  baptism  because  it  is  incompatible  with  the 
doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  and  because  added 
to  that  doctrine  it  introduces  a  spiritual  bimetalism 
into  the  kingdom  of  God,  or  a  gold  and  silver  stan- 
dard of  spiritual  values,  with  a  very  bad  grade  of 
silver  at  that.  We  hold  to  a  regenerated  church-mem- 
bership because  thus  only  can  the  church  become 
a  spiritual  organism  progressing  by  growth  under 
God's  Spirit,  instead  of  a  human  mechanism  pro- 
gressing by  accretion  under  man's  manipulation. 
We  reject  the  sacramental  conception  of  the  Lord's 
Supper  because  the  "  real  presence  "  of  Christ  is  not 
a  fact  in  the  realm  of  matter  but  a  fact  in  the  realm 
of  mind.  We  adhere  to  baptism  by  immersion  alone 
because  the  thing  signified  is  everything  in  external 


262  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

forms,  and  sprinkling  or  pouring  destroys  the  thing 
signified  in  baptism.  We  hold  to  democratic  polity 
and  local  self-government  because  we  prefer  to  listen 
to  God's  voice  as  it  speaks  to  us  by  his  Spirit  rather 
than  to  an  echo  of  it  in  presbytery  and  synod,  or  an 
echo  of  an  echo  of  it  in  a  bench  of  bishops  or  an  infal- 
lible pope.  We  prefer  a  polity  which  can  always  be 
made  compact  enough  in  general  organization  for 
spiritual  work,  but  never  compact  enough  for 
tyranny.  We  prefer  a  polity  which  is  flexible  enough 
in  general  organization  for  growth  and  adaptation 
to  changing  conditions  to  one  which  is  forever  tied 
hand  and  foot  by  corporate  unity  and  legal  soli- 
darity. We  believe  that  a  polity  which  can  organize 
itself  for  general  work  without  disturbing  anybody's 
peace,  and  can,  when  its  usefulness  is  ended,  dissolve 
itself  without  a  denominational  cataclysm,  is  better 
than  one  that  can  do  neither. 

Under  Baptist  polity  you  cannot  organize  the 
churches  for  any  but  good  ends.  You  can  organize 
them  for  missions  and  education,  but  not  to  try 
heretics  or  to  impose  creeds  or  to  pass  general  laws. 
The  Baptist  polity  has  its  shortcomings,  doubtless, 
but  it  has  unmatched  advantages.  It  localizes  dis- 
ease in  the  particular  church  and  generalizes  health 
through  larger  organization.  All  these  things  we 
derive  from  the  New  Testament  which  we  accept 
as  the  only  rule  of  faith  and  practice. 

Thus  we  make  to  American  civilization  our  unique 
contribution,  viz.,  an  interpretation  of  Christianity 


BAPTISTS   AND  AMERICAN    CIVILIZATION         263 

in  the  highest  degree  spiritual,  with  the  fewest  of 
the  carnal  elements  present.  Thus  we  hold  up  to 
civilization  in  doctrine  and  polity  the  burnished 
mirror  of  New  Testament  Christianity,  in  which  it 
may  study  its  own  image  to  advantage  and  discover 
the  spiritual  basis  of  American  institutions. 

Baptists  and  Denominational  Unity, 

3.  Baptists  have  exhibited  to  American  civiliza- 
tion the  most  striking  example  of  denominational 
unity. 

There  are  three  forms  of  power  which  enter  into 
denominational  unity.  These  are  the  capacity  for 
integration,  elimination,  and  propagation.  By  inte- 
gration I  mean  harmonious  coherence  of  parts. 
Baptists  have  shown  marked  power  of  unity  in  this 
respect.  In  the  years  preceding  the  Civil  War  the 
various  religious  denominations  in  the  United 
States,  including  the  Baptists,  were  split  asunder 
by  the  divisive  issues  connected  with  slavery.  Of 
all  those  bodies  the  only  one  which  has  had  the 
genius  to  overcome  the  resultant  barriers  and  be- 
come reunited  is  the  Baptist,  and  the  American 
Baptist  Convention  is  the  living  expression  of  Bap- 
tist leadership  in  the  genius  for  denominational 
unity.  The  Methodists  and  Presbyterians  have  no 
corresponding  organizations,  and  while  Baptists 
will  continue  to  do  their  mission  work  in  Northern 
and  Southern  organizations  for  expediency's  sake 
and  efficiency's  sake,  they  will  nevertheless  hence- 


2'64  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

forth  exhibit  in  American  life  this  organization 
which  proclaims  that  our  church  polity  never  rules 
common  sense  and  religion  out  of  court  in  the 
adjustment  or  the  readjustment  of  ecclesiastical  re- 
lations. There  is  indeed  an  older  organization 
than  this  which  signalizes  the  Baptist  genius  for 
integration — the  Baptist  Young  People's  Union  of 
America. 

Doctrinally  our  genius  for  integration  has  also 
been  marked.  There  have  always  been  extremists 
among  us,  and  mischief-makers,  but  somehow  the 
rule  in  railroad  accidents  has  been  reversed  so  that 
the  trains  on  the  curve  of  steadfast  loyalty  to  Christ 
have  escaped  disaster,  while  those  on  the  tangent 
have  come  to  grief.  We  have  two  kinds  of  radicals 
among  us  to-day — the  high  church  radicals  who 
want  to  bind  us  hand  and  foot  with  the  multiplica- 
tion of  minute  tests  of  fellowship,  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  broad  church  radicals  on  the  other,  who  are 
without  doctrinal  moorings  of  any  kind.  The  high 
church  radicals  would  give  us  a  creed  like  the  tight- 
fitting  shoes  and  trousers  and  dress  coat  of  a  dude 
which  forbid  the  free  action  of  the  limbs  in  any  di- 
rection. The  broad  church  radicals  would  give  us 
a  creed  like  the  flowing  robe  of  the  Oriental,  exactly 
adapted  to  the  life  of  indolence  and  self-indulgence, 
but  not  for  strenuous  endeavor.  The  great  mass  of 
Baptists  however  will  insist  on  a  creed  like  the 
garments,  not  of  a  dude  nor  yet  of  the  voluptuary, 
but  like  the  habiliments  of  the  athlete,  which  gird 


BAPTISTS   AND  AMERICAN    CIVILIZATION         265 


the  body  and  protect  it  at  every  vital  point  but 
which  leave  it  free  for  conquest. 

A  Baptist  Specialty. 

We  have  also  shown  capacity  for  elimination. 
This  I  may  say  is  the  Baptist  specialty.  There  is  no 
ecclesiastical  machinery  in  which  a  church  can  be- 
come entangled  and  borne  onward  after  life  is 
extinct.  Where  are  the  hardshells?  Some  one  has 
compared  their  former  numbers  and  prosperity  to 
a  great  plantation  with  fine  crops  and  fences  and 
other  improvements.  To-day  there  is  nothing  left 
of  them  but  a  solitary  gate-post  to  which  the  curious 
traveler  may  hitch  his  horse  while  he  surveys  the 
scene  of  desolation.  Where  are  the  Two-Seed-in- 
the-Spirit-Predestinarian-Baptists?  I  hear  there  is 
a  church  or  two  of  them  left  in  Ohio. 

Not  the  least  of  the  advantages  of  the  Baptist 
polity  is  its  facilities  for  burying  the  dead.  The  in- 
terment usually  takes  place  with  little  ceremony  and 
often  with  no  flowers  at  all,  but  the  operation  is  none 
the  less  effective  for  all  that.  The  chief  point  is  to 
get  the  corpse  under  ground. 

In  the  matter  of  propagation  also  there  has  been 
unity.  We  have  adhered  rigidly  in  our  general 
work  to  the  legitimate  objects,  missions  and  educa- 
tion. We  have  never  been  torn  asunder  by  a  con- 
troversy over  creed  revision  or  creed  construction. 
We  have  never  been  rent  in  twain  by  the  trial  of  a 
heretic  in  any  ecclesiastical  court.    There  have  been 


266  THE   AXIOMS   OF    RELIGION 

heretics  and  heresies,  of  course,  but  they  have  not 
been  dealt  with  by  the  denomination  as  a  whole. 
There  have  been  false  cries  of  heresy  also,  but 
usually  the  agitators  have  become  wiser  and  better 
men,  or  else  they  have  been  left  as  the  voice  of  one 
crying  in  a  wilderness  and  with  diminished  following 
and  influence. 

Baptists  and  Liberty. 

4.  Baptists  gave  to  American  civilization  the  com- 
plete idea  of  liberty. 

Mankind  has  pursued  liberty  over  mountain  and 
across  valley,  by  land  and  by  sea,  through  fire  and 
through  flood,  since  the  first  man  caught  a  glimpse 
of  liberty's  white  robes  leading  on  to  glory.  The 
love  of  liberty  is  now  a  volcanic  fire  which  breaks 
out  into  revolution  and  consumes  and  destroys  the 
ancient  fabrics  of  government,  and  now  it  is  a  tide 
of  life  which  rolls  across  the  face  of  nations,  caus- 
ing them  to  burst  into  the  beauty  and  fragrance 
of  a  new  springtime.  The  spirit  of  liberty  in  its 
quest  for  the  goal  of  its  desire  has  sounded  all  the 
notes  in  the  gamut  of  human  experience,  from  the 
minor  notes  of  abject  despair  to  the  ringing  pean  of 
victory  over  every  foe.  But  liberty  is  a  relative 
term.  Some  men  employ  it  who  do  not  know  its 
essential  meaning,  because  they  have  never  looked 
into  the  face  of  the  ideal  itself.  An  ox  under  the 
yoke  and  groaning  beneath  the  heavy  burden  has 
liberty — to  switch  his  tail;  and  so  has  the  Russian 


BAPTISTS   AND  AMERICAN    CIVILIZATION         267 

peasant  to-day.  A  bird  in  its  cage  has  liberty — to 
hop  from  the  lower  to  the  higher  perch  and  back 
again;  and  if  birds  have  piety  doubtless  some  of 
them  are  duly  grateful.  But  neither  the  one  nor  the 
other  understands  what  freedom  is.  Cardinal  Gib- 
bons has  said :  "  A  man  enjoys  religious  liberty 
when  he  possesses  the  free  right  of  worshiping  God 
according  to  the  dictates  of  a  right  conscience  and 
of  practising  a  form  of  religion  most  in  accordance 
with  his  duties  to  God."  Dr.  John  Pollard  com- 
ments on  this  as  follows :  "  In  Cardinal  Gibbons' 
definition  of  religious  liberty  is  snugly  wrapped  up 
every  religious  persecution  that  ever  raged  in  the 
world.  In  that  definition  is  hidden  away  every  fetter 
that  ever  galled  the  hands  and  feet  of  God's  saints, 
every  scourge  that  ever  tore  their  flesh,  and  every 
rack  that  ever  pulled  their  joints  asunder.  In  that 
definition,  as  in  a  heap  of  ashes,  lie  sleeping  embers 
enough  to  girdle  the  globe  with  martyr  flames.  I 
am  unwilling  to  charge  that  when  Cardinal  Gibbons 
framed  this  definition  he  saw  all  these  horrors  hid- 
den away  in  it ;  but  they  are  there,  nevertheless." 
Our  Anglo-Saxon  forefathers  knew  no  limit  to 
personal  liberty,  except  natural  barriers  like  moun- 
tains, rivers,  and  oceans.  But  they  knew  little  of 
ordered  freedom  under  law.  Our  English  ancestors 
who  wrested  Magna  Charta  from  the  hands  of 
tyranny  drank  a  deep  draught  from  the  exhilarating 
cup  of  constitutional  freedom,  but  there  were  higher 
ranges  of  spiritual  liberty  unknown  to  them.     Our 


268  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

New  England  ancestors  drank  deeply  of  the  en- 
chanted cup  when  they  came  for  conscience'  sake  to 
these  inhospitable  shores  and  "  the  sounding  aisles 
of  the  dim  woods  rang  with  the  anthems  of  the 
free."  But  they  failed  to  grasp  the  idea  that  re- 
ligious liberty  requires  not  only  that  we  enjoy,  but 
that  we  grant  liberty  to  others.  As  Josh  Billings 
or  some  one  else  remarked,  "  The  Puritans  came 
over  to  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of 
their  own  consciences  and  to  keep  other  people  from 
worshiping  him  according  to  the'r'n." 

Roger  Williams  and  Religious  Freedom. 

Now  the  coming  of  liberty  to  the  world  has  been 
delayed  so  long  because  men  did  not  know  where  to 
look  for  the  fountain-head  of  liberty,  or  what  is  the 
rationale  of  liberty,  the  root  from  which  all  forms  of 
it  spring,  until  the  Baptists  taught  it  to  the  world. 
Religious  freedom  is  the  nursing  mother  of  all 
freedom.  Without  it  all  other  forms  of  it  wither 
and  die.  The  Baptists  grasped  the  conception  of 
liberty  in  its  full-orbed  glory  from  the  beginning. 
This  doctrine  and  those  related  to  it  shine  in  the 
early  Baptist  Confessions  of  Faith  among  contem- 
poraneous creeds  like  a  constellation  in  the  clear 
sky  seen  through  a  rift  in  the  darkness  of  the 
surrounding  clouds.  It  found  its  sublimest  embodi- 
ment when  Roger  Williams  took  it  in  his  hand  as  a 
precious  seed  and  planted  it  in  the  soil  of  eastern 
New  England,  saying  in  the  words  of  God's  true 


BAPTISTS   AND  AMERICAN    CIVILIZATION         2Gj 

prophet,  "  Out  of  this  seed  shall  arise  the  most 
glorious  commonwealth  known  to  human  history."  ^ 
The  same  principle  found  heroic  champions  in  our 
Virginia  Baptist  fathers,  who  gave  neither  sleep 
to  their  eyes  nor  slumber  to  their  eyelids  until  the 
opposite  idea  was  not  only  wiped  off  the  statute 
book  of  Virginia,  but  the  principle  itself  incorpo- 
rated in  the  first  amendment  to  the  American  Con- 
stitution. 

Whitelaw  Reid  says  the  greatest  fact  of  modern 
history  was  the  rise  of  the  American  nation.  He  is 
mistaken.  The  greatest  fact  of  modern  history  was 
the  discovery  of  the  idea  of  liberty,  and  that  dis- 
covery was  made  by  the  Baptists.  The  discovery 
of  this  idea  is  the  spiritual  analogue  to  the  discovery 
of  the  New  World  by  Columbus  and  its  emancipa- 
tion by  Washington.  I  would  like  to  see  a  heroic 
group  in  marble  setting  forth  the  facts.  I  would 
have  a  perfect  image  of  liberty  carved  from  the 
purest  marble.  I  would  have  Columbus,  the  intrepid 
navigator  and  discoverer  of  the  New  World  placing 
the  pedestal  in  position,  and  George  Washington,  the 
dauntless  soldier,  lifting  the  statue  into  place,  and 
Roger  Williams  robing  the  image  in  the  garments 
of  righteousness  and  placing  the  chaplet  of  divine 
approval  upon  its  brow.  And  if  the  sculptor  of  that 

*  The  purpose  and  limits  of  this  work  do  not  admit  of  discussion 
of  the  relative  merits  of  Roger  Williams  and  John  Clarke  in  the 
founding  of  Rhode  Island.  The  author  appreciates  the  work  of 
Clarke  and  in  a  historical  discussion  would  emphasize  it.  But  here 
and  elsewhere  in  the  book  it  is  important  only  to  call  attention  to 
Roger  Williams  as  the  great  pioneer  of  religious  liberty. 


270  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

image  of  liberty  should  look  for  her  original  pho- 
tograph in  modern  times,  he  would  have  to  search 
until  he  found  it  written  in  the  earliest  Confessions 
of  Faith  of  the  Baptists  and  embodied  in  their 
church  life  and  political  creed.  There  is  no  other 
literature  during  or  before  the  seventeenth  century 
which  portrays  the  perfect  image. 

It  was  no  accident  that  a  Baptist  wrote  our  na- 
tional anthem.  The  Baptist  heart  was  the  native 
place  of  liberty,  and  when  S.  F.  Smith  wrote 

My  Country !  'tis  of  thee, 
Sweet  land  of  liberty, 

Of  thee  I  sing; 
Land  where  my  fathers  died! 
Land  of  the  pilgrim's  pride! 
From  every  mountain  side 

Let  freedom  ring! — 

it  was  but  the  natural  union  of  faith  in  God  on  the 
part  of  the  Baptist  preacher  joined  to  patriotism  in 
an  American  citizen.  It  was  but  the  deep  spring  of 
religious  liberty  bubbling  up  and  over  into  thrilling 
song  through  the  lips  of  a  loyal  citizen  of  this 
greatest  country  on  earth. 

Spiritual  Analogues. 

5.  Baptists  have  furnished  the  spiritual  analogues 
of  our  entire  political  system.  They  supply  the 
moral  and  spiritual  assumptions  on  which  is  reared 
our  political  fabric.  Now  there  are  two  principles 
which  sum  up  the  political  theory  of  the  American 


BAPTISTS  AND   AMERICAN    CIVILIZATION         27 1 

commonwealth,  and  these  are  reducible  to  one,  viz., 
the  competency  of  the  citizens  to  work  out  their 
political  destiny.  This  applies  to  the  individual, 
and  is  well  expressed  by  De  Tocqueville,  as  follows : 
*'  In  the  United  States  the  sovereignty  of  the  people 
is  not  an  isolated  doctrine,  bearing  no  relation  to 
the  prevailing  manners  and  ideas  of  the  people ;  it 
may  on  the  contrary  be  regarded  as  the  last  link  of 
a  chain  of  opinions  which  binds  the  whole  Anglo- 
American  world.  That  Providence  has  given  to 
every  human  being  the  degree  of  reason  necessary 
to  direct  himself  in  the  affairs  which  interest  him  ex- 
clusively; such  is  the  grand  maxim  on  which  civil 
and  political  society  rests  in  the  United  States.  The 
father  of  a  family  applies  it  to  his  children ;  the 
master  to  his  servants ;  the  township  to  its  officers ; 
the  province  to  its  townships ;  the  State  to  the  prov- 
inces ;  the  union  to  the  States ;  and  when  extended  to 
the  nation  it  becomes  the  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty 
of  the  people."  This  is  the  political  side  of  the  fun- 
damental Baptist  conception  of  the  competency  of 
the  soul  in  religion  under  God. 

This  principle  of  the  competency  of  the  citizen 
applies  to  the  body  of  the  people  acting  collectively, 
as  well  as  to  the  individual.  The  town  meeting  is 
the  corner-stone  of  our  entire  system.  So  the 
philosophic  observers  from  a  distance  as  well  as  our 
own  best  writers  hold.  Our  fundamental  concep- 
tion is  not  representative  government,  but  direct 
government  by  the  people.    Representative  govern- 


272  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

ment  is  an  expedient  made  necessary  simply  by  the 
increase  of  numbers  and  geographical  extent.  Pure 
democracy  resorts  to  representation  only  when  it  is 
compelled  to,  and  reverts  to  pure  democracy  when- 
ever possible.  Now  local  church  government  as 
held  by  the  Baptists  is  the  religious  and  Christian 
analogue  of  the  town  meeting.  It  is  not  too  much, 
perhaps,  to  say  with  due  allowance  for  the  figure  of 
speech,  that  a  local  Baptist  church  is  the  town  meet- 
ing of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  the  town  meeting 
is  the  political  church  of  the  temporal  common- 
wealth. 

Presbyterians  seek  to  justify  their  system  often 
on  the  plea  that  it  conforms  to  the  American  system 
of  representative  government  in  having  a  graded 
system  of  courts  and  legislatures.  But  they  forget 
a  fundamental  fact,  viz.,  that  in  the  kingdom  of  God 
the  authority  cannot  be  localized,  while  in  the  State 
it  must  be  localized  as  soon  as  it  assumes  more  than 
the  dimensions  of  the  town  meeting.  The  authority 
of  the  State  has  to  be  localized  and  distributed  be- 
cause it  is  a  human  authority.  In  the  kingdom  of 
God  it  cannot  be  localized  in  a  series  of  courts  or 
legislatures  because  the  authority  is  divine  and 
omnipresent.  Christ  alone  is  King  in  Zion.  So  that 
pure  democracy  in  the  church  is  the  only  true  ana- 
logue to  representative  government  in  the  State, 
because  the  latter  is  simply  an  expedient  for  regis- 
tering the  will  of  the  people.  Representative  gov- 
ernment is  necessary  in  the  State  when  the  State 


BAPTISTS   AND   AMERICAN    CIVILIZATION         2/3 

becomes  large  enough  to  require  distribution  of 
authority;  it  is  never  necessary  in  the  church  be- 
cause the  authority  of  Christ  never  can  be  locaHzed 
or  distributed. 

A  New  Testament  Church  and  the 
American  Government. 

Look  into  a  New  Testament  church  and  then  at 
the  American  government,  and  insight  discovers 
that  the  latter  is  the  projection  of  the  shadow  of 
the  former.  One  might  in  a  certain  sense  say  that 
the  primary  election  which  determined  whether  or 
not  there  should  be  an  American  government  was 
held  two  thousand  years  ago  on  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean  when  the  little  Baptist  democracies 
assembled  to  worship. 

I  go  further.  Beginning  with  the  religious  com- 
petency of  the  soul  under  God  as  the  distinctive 
significance  of  the  Baptists  in  history,  and  passing 
to  the  civic  competency  of  the  citizen,  we  complete 
the  analogy  by  showing  that  the  six  Baptist  axioms 
of  religion  are  the  analogues  of  our  political  axioms. 
The  theological  axiom,  "  A  holy  and  loving  God  has 
a  right  to  be  sovereign,"  has  its  counterpart  in  the 
recognition  of  God's  sovereignty  by  this  govern- 
ment in  granting  to  the  church  the  rights  of  an 
imperium  in  imperio;  that  is,  in  giving  independence 
to  the  church.  In  so  doing  the  State  recognizes 
an  authority  higher  than  itself. 

The  religious  axiom,  "  All  souls  have  an  equal 


274  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

right  to  direct  access  to  God,"  finds  its  political 
counterpart  in  the  American  axiom,  "  All  men  are 
created  free  and  equal." 

The  ecclesiastical  axiom  that  "  All  believers  are 
entitled  to  equal  privileges  in  the  church,"  finds  its 
political  counterpart  in  the  American  axiom  that 
ours  is  a  government  "  of  the  people,  for  the  people, 
and  by  the  people." 

The  moral  axiom  that  "  To  be  responsible,  man 
must  be  free,"  finds  its  counterpart  in  the  franchise 
and  in  all  our  American  practice  in  legal  and 
criminal  procedure. 

The  religio-civic  axiom,  "  A  free  Church  in  a  free 
State,"  has  become  naturalized  in  our  speech  until 
it  is  as  much  political  as  religious. 

The  social  axiom,  "  Love  your  neighbor  as  your- 
self," has  its  political  counterpart  in  our  political 
axiom,  "  Equal  rights  to  all  and  special  privileges 
to  none." 

In  short,  the  Baptist  axioms  of  religion  are  like 
a  stalactite  descending  from  heaven  to  earth,  formed 
by  deposits  from  the  water  of  life  flowing  out  of  the 
throne  of  God  down  to  mankind,  while  our  Ameri- 
can political  society  is  the  stalagmite  with  its  base 
upon  the  earth  rising  to  meet  the  stalactite  and 
formed  by  deposits  from  the  same  life-giving 
stream.  When  the  two  shall  meet,  then  heaven  and 
earth  will  be  joined  together  and  the  kingdom  of 
God  will  have  come  among  men.  This  is  the  process 
which  runs  through  the  ages. 


baptists  and  american  civilization      275 

Baptist  Bed-rock  Ideals. 

In  conclusion  be  it  said  that  the  intelligent  Baptist 
can  yield  to  none  in  his  patriotism,  for  his  religious 
ideals  are  the  bed-rock  of  the  political  fabric.  In- 
dulge me  in  a  little  fancy  as  we  contemplate  "  old 
Glory,"  the  name  we  have  learned  most  to  love  to 
describe  our  flag.  The  stripes  of  continuous  color 
across  the  flag  tell  of  a  homogeneous  American  life, 
and  being  equal  in  width  they  tell  of  justice  and 
equality;  and  the  red,  white,  and  blue  in  the  color 
scheme  tell  of  American  variety  and  of  unity  in  va- 
riety; and  the  cluster  of  stars  in  the  flag,  each  star 
separate  from  the  other  stars,  tells  of  the  principles 
of  autonomy  and  individualism  which  underlie  our 
whole  system ;  and  they  are  stars  to  show  that  those 
principles  of  freedom  were  born  in  heaven,  and  that 
freedom  and  individualism  are  the  freedom  of  an 
ordered  universe,  and  not  of  chaos. 

We  are  approaching  the  Baptist  age  of  the  world, 
because  we  are  approaching  the  age  of  the  triumph 
of  democracy.  I  seem  to  see  dimly  the  outlines  of 
that  coming  age. 

A  solemn  murmur  in  the  soul 

Tells  of  an  age  to  be, 
As  travelers  hear  the  ocean  roll 

Before  they  view  the  sea. 

Like  a  vine  growing  in  the  darkness  of  some  deep 
cavern,  and  slowly  stretching  itself  toward  the  dim 
light  shining  in  through  the  distant  mouth  of  the 


276  THE   AXIOMS   OF    RELIGION 

cavern,  so  has  humanity  slowly  crept  along  toward 
freedom.  The  mighty  hordes  of  the  Asiatic  and  the 
European  world,  weary  and  sad,  yet  courageous  and 
resolute,  are  hasting  forward  with  unresting  feet 
toward  the  gates  of  destiny.  Toward  those  gates 
these  hundreds  of  years  the  Baptists  have  been  point- 
ing, and  to-day  in  the  foremost  files  of  time  they  lead 
the  way.  As  humanity  enters  they  will  shout  with 
the  full  knowledge  that  God  in  Christ  has  led  all 
the  way : 

Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates ; 

And  be  ye  lifted  up,  ye  everlasting  doors ; 

And  the  King  of  glory  shall  come  in. 

Who  is  the  King  of  glory? 

Jehovah  strong  and  mighty, 

Jehovah  mighty  in  battle. 

Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates; 

Yea,  lift  them  up,  ye  everlasting  doors; 

And  the  King  of  glory  shall  come  in. 

Who  is  the  King  of  glory? 

Jehovah  of  hosts,  he  is  the  King  of  glory. 

And  the  goal  of  human  progress  shall  be  realized 
in  an  eternal  society  wherein  absolute  democracy  is 
joined  to  absolute  monarchy,  God  the  Father  being 
the  monarch  and  his  people  a  vast  family  of  free 
children. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

BAPTISTS  AND  WORLD  PROGRESS 

I.  The  preceding  chapter  indicates  the  contribu- 
tion of  Baptists  to  American  civilization.  This 
raises  another  question :  Do  the  axioms  of  rehgion, 
as  we  have  expounded  them,  contain  in  themselves 
sufficient  virtue  to  guide  the  destinies  of  the  race? 
Do  we  find  in  them  the  principia,  or  first  principles 
of  advancing  civilization  ?  Let  us  seek  an  answer  to 
these  questions. 

Guizot's  Idea  of  Civilization. 

Guizot  in  his  well-known  history  asserts  that  the 
idea  of  civilization  contains  the  following  elements : 
the  idea  of  order  and  social  well-being,  the  idea  of 
progress,  the  development  of  man  as  an  individual, 
and  the  growth  of  society  as  a  whole.  In  his  defi- 
nition he  fails  to  give  proper  recognition  to  the  fact 
that  the  core  of  all  real  progress  is  moral.  He  suc- 
ceeds better  in  doing  this  in  his  discussion  than  in  his 
definition.  Guizot's  definition  regards  society  some- 
what externally.  It  would  be  perhaps  more  fruit- 
ful to  define  it  from  within,  to  note  it  as  a  process 
in  the  spirit  of  man  and  society  rather  than  in  its 
outward  appearance.     As  life  is  more  interesting 

277 


2y^  .  THE  AXIOMS   OF  RELIGION 

than  forms,  and  as  potencies  are  more  significant 
than  attainments,  so  also  is  the  inner  law  of  civiUza- 
tion  more  valuable  for  study  than  its  manifestations 
at  any  particular  point  in  history.  The  flame  is 
greater  than  the  fagot.  The  genius  of  Raphael 
transcends  the  Sistine  Madonna.  The  imagination 
of  Michael  Angelo  is  a  more  splendid  thing  than 
even  his  marble  image  of  Moses. 

The  star  of  the  world's  progressive  civilization 
rose  in  the  West  centuries  ago.  The  eyes  of  Europe 
rather  than  those  of  Asia  were  first  permitted  to 
gaze  upon  it.  In  India  and  China  and  other  Oriental 
lands  arrested  development  has  held  the  peoples 
back  for  thousands  of  years.  That  civilization  is 
well  symbolized  in  the  bound  foot  of  the  Chinese 
girl.  Trammeled  in  its  youth  by  some  repressive 
principle  it  became  club-footed  at  the  outset  and 
went  mincing  on  its  way.  It  could  climb  the  long 
low  slopes  of  the  mountain  of  progress,  but  such 
feet  could  not  scale  the  loftier  heights.  So  it  sat 
down  after  a  short  while  on  a  low  tableland  and 
folded  its  hands.  It  has  been  sitting  thus  thousands 
of  years.  Western  civilization  itself  did  not  assume 
definite  form  and  outline  until  after  the  Reforma- 
tion. Its  destiny  was  fixed,  however,  when  the 
Apostle  Paul  crossed  the  Hellespont  into  Greece. 
Prior  to  the  Reformation  the  conflict  of  ideals  left 
the  issue  in  the  balances.  After  Luther  the  Western 
world  was  launched  upon  a  new  career.  The  prow 
of  the  ship  points  steadily  to  its  goal  and  the  shining 


BAPTISTS   AND   WORLD   PROGRESS  2/9 

shores  appear,  though  perhaps  as  yet  but  dimly  in 
the  distance. 

The  Significance  of  Personality. 

The  key  to  this  movement  of  civiHzation  is  to  be 
found  in  the  idea  and  in  the  significance  of  person- 
ality. The  value  of  the  soul  of  man,  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  the  individual,  the  capacity  of  man  for 
growth  and  happiness,  for  the  attainment  of  moral 
and  spiritual  character,  for  fellowship  with  other 
men  and  above  all  with  God — these  are  some  of  the 
rich  contents  of  the  great  word,  human  personality. 
The  reader  recognizes  at  once  the  echo  in  the  above 
of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  and  of  Paul  as  to  the  worth 
of  the  human  soul,  of  the  value  of  man  as  man. 
This  is  the  pivot  of  modern  civilization.  The  whole 
movement  turns  upon  it.  The  revolt  against  tyranny 
and  oppression  in  every  form  is  but  the  expres- 
sion of  it.  In  the  political,  industrial,  and  religious 
spheres  every  contest  in  which  men  are  engaged  to- 
day turns  upon  this  idea.  Two  objects  are  sought 
for  the  individual  man  and  for  society,  viz.,  that 
man  may  be  free  and  self-legislative.  He  seeks  con- 
stitutional freedom  and  moral  progress.  Liberty, 
equality,  fraternity,  are  the  great  words  which  set 
forth  the  ideal  as  it  pertains  to  society  as  a  whole. 
The  ideal  of  all  forms  of  social  life,  as  men  are 
coming  more  and  more  to  see,  is  that  it  is  moral 
fellowship  of  persons.  Business  life  should  be  so 
regarded  as  well  as  civic  and  political.     These  are 


280  THE   AXIOMS   OF    RELIGION 

associations  of  men  and  women  for  mutual  helpful- 
ness and  growth.  Science,  art,  philosophy,  philan- 
thropy, and  religion  are  the  higher  regions  in  which 
the  principle  has  play. 

Now  in  what  follows  we  propose  to  show  that  the 
axioms  of  religion  as  previously  expounded,  taken 
with  the  general  truth  of  the  competency  of  the  soul 
in  religion  under  God,  contain  the  essential  elements 
of  modern  civilization  and  are  fitted  to  guide  it  to 
the  highest  and  best  issues.  We  will  view  them  first 
as  a  moral  and  religious  force,  and  secondly  as  an 
intellectual,  and  thirdly  as  a  social  and  political  force. 
In  all  these  spheres  it  will  appear  that  the  axioms 
of  religion  are  the  mainspring  of  civilization.  Our 
sketch  must  needs  be  brief.  Ground  covered  in 
previous  chapters  must  here  be  assumed.  An  out- 
line of  the  salient  points  of  the  argument  will  pre- 
sent it  sufficiently,  we  trust,  to  make  good  our  plea. 

First  we  consider  the  axioms  as  a  religious  and 
moral  force  in  the  world's  progress. 

Evangelism  and  the  Soul's  Competency. 

Evangelism,  in  the  complete  New  Testament 
meaning  of  the  word,  is  a  striking  illustration  of  the 
axiom  and  of  the  doctrine  of  the  competency  of 
the  soul  in  religion  under  God.  Evangelism  is  the 
proclamation  to  the  soul  of  man  that  God  has  pro- 
vided a  trysting-place,  so  to  speak,  for  God  and  man 
in  Christ.  In  Christ  they  meet,  and  face  to  face 
settle  their  controversy.     The  incarnation  is  God's 


BAPTISTS   AND  WORLD   PROGRESS  281 

self-revelation  as  a  person,  the  atonement  is  his  pro- 
vision for  human  sin.  Evangelism  is  the  approach 
of  the  divine  to  the  human  person.  The  high  respect 
which  God  pays  to  human  personality  is  seen  in  the 
fact  that  his  transaction  with  every  sinner  in  Christ 
is  on  the  basis  of  that  sinner's  private  and  personal 
needs  and  conditions.  Dr.  H.  C.  Mabie,  in  his  sug- 
gestive book  on  "  Method  in  Soul  Winning,"  touches 
the  heart  of  true  evangelism  when  he  says  the  chief 
business  of  the  soul-winner  is  to  "  put  the  sinner  on 
the  clew."  The  clew  is  always  found  in  the  sinner's 
own  private  experience,  and  Christ  always  meets 
him  within  the  sphere  of  that  experience.  Where 
many  paths  converge  upon  a  given  point  in  a 
forest  it  is  usually  because  a  spring  of  water  is 
to  be  found  where  they  meet.  The  gospel  is  the 
fountain  of  life  constructed  with  a  path  running 
to  every  man's  dwelling.  To  put  a  man  on  the 
clew  is  to  turn  his  feet  into  the  path  at  his  own  door. 
Out  of  his  subjective  experience  and  sense  of  need 
he  finds  Christ.  Evangelism  connects  the  thirsty 
man  with  the  fountain,  puts  him  on  the  private  path 
that  leads  to  life. 

Now  the  bearing  of  this  fact  on  infant  baptism 
will  be  obvious  to  those  who  have  read  our  preceding 
chapters  on  the  religious  and  moral  axioms.  Infant 
baptism  forestalls  evangelism.  Churches  which 
practise  it  in  a  thoroughgoing  manner  and  on  a 
large  scale  have  no  place  in  their  systems  for  New 
Testament  evangelism.     The  Lutheran  Church  in 


282  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 


Germany  is  an  example.  The  reason  is  clear. 
Spiritual  thirst  is  impossible  to  the  infant  and  water 
applied  to  its  body  is  a  vain  substitute.  Evangelism 
assumes  the  competency  of  the  soul  under  God's 
grace.  It  assumes  also  the  religious  and  moral 
axioms  while  infant  baptism  assumes  none  of  these 
truths. 

Later  in  this  chapter  we  shall  see  how  profoundly 
New  Testament  evangelism,  as  sketched  above,  har- 
monizes with  the  best  modern  educational  theory 
and  the  fundamental  principles  of  psychology. 
Meantime  we  cite  evangelism  as  an  illustration  of 
the  axioms  of  religion  as  a  moral  and  religious 
force  in  modern  civilization.  Evangelism  is  the 
method  of  God  for  setting  the  soul  free.  He  regen- 
erates the  spirit  of  man  and  thus  transforms  it  into  a 
regenerator  of  human  society.  Through  evangehsm, 
therefore,  God  grapples  directly  with  man's  deepest 
problem,  emancipation  from  the  power  of  sin. 

Evangelism  and  Modern  Civilization. 

Evangelism  is,  therefore,  a  central  force  in  all 
modern  civilization,  because  the  freedom  which  re- 
ligion gives  is  the  only  inclusive  freedom.  Indi- 
vidual freedom,  freedom  of  thought,  freedom  of 
conscience,  freedom  of  action,  industrial  freedom, 
civil  liberty,  these  are  all  imperishable  treasures  of 
the  human  spirit,  achieved  as  working  principles,  if 
not  ideally  attained  as  yet,  at  the  cost  of  much  blood 
and  of  age-long  struggle.     Yet  ultimately  they  all 


BAPTISTS   AND   WORLD   PROGRESS  283 


rest  on  religious  freedom.  The  free  fellowship 
of  man  with  God,  implied  in  the  doctrine  of  the 
competency  of  the  soul  in  religion,  and  in  the  re- 
ligious axiom  the  right  of  men  to  direct  access  to 
God,  is  the  ultimate  basis  of  freedom.  All  forms 
of  liberty  are  alike  in  the  respect  they  pay  to  human 
personality;  but  they  differ  in  the  degree  of  their 
inclusiveness,  like  a  series  of  concentric  rings.  The 
outside  ring  which  alone  can  include  all  the  rest  is 
the  soul's  free  intercourse  with  God.  The  ultimate 
authority  for  man  is  God.  For  God  we  were  made. 
When  adjusted  to  God  through  Christ  we  find 
liberty,  and  all  other  adjustments  follow  in  due  time. 
Democracy  and  its  attendant  blessings  in  the  State 
in  modern  times  has  gone  hand  in  hand  not  with 
sacramental  and  sacerdotal  Christianity,  but  with  the 
Christianity  of  free  grace  and  the  direct  relation  of 
the  soul  to  God.  The  Dutch  Republic,  Scotland, 
England,  America,  not  Russia,  Spain,  and  Portugal, 
have  made  great  progress  toward  government  by  the 
people.  The  regeneration  of  individuals  through 
evangelism  issues  in  church  democracy,  which  we 
will  now  consider  as  a  religious  force  in  civilization. 

Three  Important  Witnesses. 

We  have  in  previous  chapters  indicated  the  value 
of  democracy  in  the  church  as  the  only  possible  ex- 
pression of  the  ecclesiastical  axiom.  But  in  order 
to  make  clear  the  general  proposition  that  democracy 
in  the  church  is  fitted  to  guide  civilization  at  all 


284  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

Stages,  if  properly  applied,  we  propose  now  to  call  to 
the  stand  three  witnesses  widely  separated  in  some 
respects  from  each  other.  They  bear  testimony  to 
the  value  of  a  democratic  church  with  reference  to 
widely  separated  aspects  of  Christian  effort  and 
progress. 

The  first  will  be  Mr.  Loring  Brace  who  has  writ- 
ten powerfully  in  defense  of  the  Christian  faith  in 
his  well-known  work  "  Gesta  Christi."  Says  Mr. 
Brace :  "  The  union  of  the  Christian  Church  with 
the  State  under  Constantine  we  regard  as  one  of  the 
great  blunders  of  the  historical  church,  which  has 
drawn  after  it  a  long  train  of  evils,  whose  effects 
are  even  yet  experienced.  Could  Christianity  have 
been  permitted  to  grow,  as  it  did  under  the  apostles, 
in  little  voluntary  associations  of  believers,  uncon- 
nected with  the  civil  power  and  with  a  simple  organ- 
ization, we  should  not  have  had,  indeed,  the  grand 
spectacle  of  an  apparently  converted  imperial  court, 
and  an  official  hierarchy,  and  a  church  supported  by 
armies  and  governed  by  warriors,  courtiers,  and 
vast  populations  suddenly  made  into  nominal  Chris- 
tians— but  we  should  have  been  saved  a  paganized 
peasantry,  a  corrupt  priesthood,  a  hierarchy  full  of 
greed  and  ambition,  ages  of  blood  and  religious  war- 
fare, and  a  church  which  persecuted  both  science 
and  differing  opinions.  The  Christian  faith  would 
have  grown  up  where  it  belongs — in  quiet,  humble 
places — and  have  reformed  manners  and  morals  be- 
fore it  took  hold  of  legislation.     Christ's  principles 


BAPTISTS   AND    WORLD    PROGRESS  285 

would  have  been  a  spiritual  power  in  the  world,  not 
a  form  or  an  institution,  and  would  thus  have  finally 
permeated  society.  So  far  from  regarding  the 
spread  of  the  Christian  religion  in  the  Roman  world 
as  a  sign  of  its  divine  origin  and  evidence  of  its  tri- 
umph, we  consider  it  as  almost  a  fatal  occurrence, 
and  as  having  impeded  the  spread  of  Christ's  real 
truth  ever  since"  ^ 

Those  who  regard  the  medieval  Church  of  Rome 
as  the  great  providential  agency  for  preserving  civil- 
ization from  chaos  will  of  course  reject  Mr  Brace's 
view.  But  if  they  will  recall  the  character  of  the 
New  Testament  church,  as  made  up  of  the  regener- 
ate alone,  and  not  of  those  baptized  in  infancy ;  and 
if  they  will  recall  the  tremendous  spiritual  energy 
of  the  early  church  as  shown  in  its  speedy  conquest 
of  the  empire  in  spite  of  fearful  persecutions,  the 
force  of  the  language  of  Mr.  Brace  will  be  felt. 

Professor  Harnack's  Testimony. 

Let  us  next  take  Professor  Adolf  Harnack  as  a 
witness.  In  an  essay  published  a  few  years  ago  en- 
titled "  Thoughts  on  Protestantism,"  he  arraigns  the 
established  churches  of  Europe  in  a  severe  manner, 
and  points  out  the  perils  which  confront  them. 
He  is  of  course  not  a  member  of  a  congregational 
or  Baptist  church,  but  throughout  his  essay  he  in- 
sists on  principles  which  lie  at  the  heart  of  church 
democracy,  and  the  axioms  of  religion  supply  the 

^"Gesta   Christi,"  pp.   51,   52. 


286  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

fundamental  conceptions  of  his  general  plea  for  a 
more  spiritual  and  more  biblical  Christianity  than 
that  found  in  the  State  Churches.  The  great  peril 
to  which  he  calls  especial  attention  is  "  the  progres- 
sive Catlioliching  of  the  Protestant  churches."  He 
means  by  this  that  these  State  Churches  are  more 
and  more  becoming  centralized  and  secularized,  that 
sacerdotalism  is  creeping  in,  that  tradition  is  acquir- 
ing, in  increasing  measure,  a  binding  force.  Men 
are  forgetting  the  real  nature  of  the  church  as  a 
congregation  of  believers,  a  spiritual  body  owing 
the  first  allegiance  to  Christ  and  guided  by  the 
Spirit. 

Professor  Harnack,  in  proving  the  existence  of 
Catholicizing  tendency  says :  "  The  first  thing  to 
notice  relates  to  the  very  conception  of  a  church. 
What  we  in  Germany  call  the  evangelical  conception 
of  a  church  has  almost  vanished ;  and  if  any  one  in 
practical  life  ventures  to  remind  people  of  it  he  is 
cried  down  as  an  impractical  dreamer.  The  ma- 
jority of  our  influential  clerical  newspapers,  with 
which  must  also  be  reckoned  one  or  two  political 
journals,  go  to  work  with  ideas  which  are  quite 
Catholic.  One  of  these  church  newspapers  I  have 
been  reading  regularly  now  for  several  years  and  in 
all  its  countless  references  to  the  church  I  cannot 
remember  ever  to  have  come  across  a  single  passage 
in  which  full  justice  is  done  to  the  seventh  article  of 
the  Augsburg  Confession.  .  .  Hardly  any  distinc- 
tion is  drawn  between  the  Church  of  the  Faith  and 


BAPTISTS   AND   WORLD    PROGRESS  287 


the  National  Church ;  and  all  the  decisions  and  regu- 
lations of  the  National  Church,  so  far  as  they  are 
agreeable  to  the  greater  number,  are  placed  under 
the  protection  of  the  sacred  authority.  "  ^ 

We  insert  at  this  point  the  seventh  article  of  the 
Augsburg  Confession  referred  to  by  Professor 
Harnack.  The  reader  will  be  interested  to  observe 
its  contrast  with  the  modern  developed  and  central- 
ized hierarchies.  The  article  is  as  follows :  "  Also 
they  teach  that  one  holy  church  is  to  continue  for- 
ever. But  the  church  is  the  congregation  of  saints, 
in  which  the  gospel  is  rightly  taught  and  the  sacra- 
ments rightly  administered.  And  unto  the  true 
unity  of  the  church  it  is  sufficient  to  agree  concern- 
ing the  doctrine  of  the  gospel  and  the  administra- 
tion of  the  sacraments.  Nor  is  it  necessary  that 
human  traditions,  rites,  or  ceremonies  instituted  by 
men  should  be  alike  everywhere,  as  St.  Paul  saith : 
'  There  is  one  faith,  one  baptism,  one  God  and 
Father  of  all.'  "  ^ 

Again  Harnack  says :  "  Added  to  this  Catholic 
conception  of  the  church,  which  identifies  the  Church 
of  the  Faith  with  the  Church  of  History,  we  evan- 
gelicals are  also  gradually  experiencing  everything 
that  naturally  goes  with  it — fanaticism,  the  despotic 
tendency,  impatience,  a  mania  for  persecution, 
clerical  uniform,  and  clerical  police.  "  ^  He  remarks 
in  closing  this  division  of  his  discussion  that  "  a  clear 

'  "  Thoughts  on  Protestantism,"  pp.  32,  33. 

2  Schaflf's  "Creeds  of  Christendom,"  Vol.  Ill,  pp.   II,  12. 

■''  "  Thoughts  on  Protestantism,"  p.  35. 


288  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

insight  into  the  conditions  of  Protestant  life  is  on 
the  point  of  disappearing  "  and  that  unless  some- 
thing is  done  it  will  disappear  entirely.  He  quotes 
a  description  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in 
France  by  an  intelligent  French  Catholic  in  which 
France  is  described  as  the  most  "  orthodox  country 
in  the  world  because  in  matters  of  religion  the  most 
indifferent."  Catholicism  is  declared  to  be  full  of 
myths,  superstitions,  and  absurdities ;  and  on  the 
other  hand,  full  of  profound  ideas,  significant  ritual, 
and  flourishing  symbolism.  Church  authority,  not 
investigation  settles  all  questions.  No  one  is  ex- 
pected to  understand  or  believe  the  system.  There 
are  no  doubts  because  there  is  no  thought.  The 
believer  may  be  in  the  church  but  also  the  unbeliever, 
for  he  is  undisturbed  so  long  as  he  conforms  to  the 
outward  requirements.  Professor  Harnack  then 
adds :  "  The  image  of  Catholicism  which  is  here 
portrayed  is  the  image  that  threatens  us."  Again, 
"  If  the  development  insensibly  advances,  and  we 
simply  capitulate  to  it  a  second  CathoHcism  will  be 
formed  out  of  the  consolidation  of  Protestantism; 
but  it  will  be  poorer  and  of  less  religious  intensity 
than  the  first."  ^ 

What  remedy  does  Professor  Harnack  propose? 
This:  that  fresh  emphasis  be  given  to  two  vital 
truths  of  original  Christianity.  The  first  is  that  "  in 
the  end  religion  is  only  a  steadfast  temper  of  the 
soul,  rooted  in  childlike  trust  in  God."    The  second 

»"  Thoughts  on  Protestantism,"  p.  51. 


BAPTISTS   AND    WORLD   PROGRESS  289 

truth  is  "  That  this  childlike  trust  is  inseparably 
bound  up  with  the  plain  simple  rule  that  the  moral 
life,  in  all  its  solemnity  and  earnestness,  is  the  cor- 
relative of  religion,  and  that  without  it  religion  be- 
comes idolatry  and  a  deception  of  the  soul."  ^  In  his 
protest  against  the  institutionalism  which  he  cannot 
resist  successfully  llarnack  urges  in  particular  the 
need  of  "  independent  personalities."  He  says 
"  Truly  it  is  not  uniform  institutions  that  our  age 
demands,  but  personalities  of  the  most  various  type 
— wide-awake,  rounded,  free."  - 

Thus  Harnack  on  the  European  churches.  It  is 
a  severe  indictment.  It  points  clearly  to  one  of  our 
chief  contentions  in  preceding  chapters,  viz.,  that 
democracy  in  the  church  above  all  polities,  and  in- 
deed alone  among  the  various  polities,  safeguards  the 
spiritual  rights  of  the  soul.  Man  loses  his  spiritual 
birthright  in  due  time  when  he  commits  his  religious 
interests  to  human  authorities  and  centralized  insti- 
tutions, when  he  adopts  the  indirect  instead  of  the 
direct  method  of  dealing  with  God.  The  axioms 
of  religion  would  solve  the  religious  problems  of 
Europe  if  consistently  applied.  Free  thought  in 
France  is  fundamentally  anti-clerical  rather  than 
anti-Christian.  If  the  Christian  religion  could  be  set 
before  the  eyes  of  unbelief  in  European  countries  in 
its  original,  simple,  universal  elements,  thousands  of 
men  and  women  thirsting  for  the  truth  would  hail 
it  as  famished  pilgrims  crossing  a  desert  hail  the 

1  "  Thoughts  on  Protestantism,"  p.   55.  *  Ibid.,  p.  63. 

T 


290  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

oasis  with  crystal  fountain  and  spreading  trees.  A 
significant  fact  is  that  in  the  State  Churches  in  both 
Germany  and  England  there  is  a  distinct  inner 
movement  toward  a  deeper  spirituality.  In  England 
the  Keswick  movement  offers  a  haven  for  the  dis- 
satisfied and  spiritually  hungry.  On  the  Continent 
and  in  England  this  spiritual  movement  from  within 
is  regarded  by  the  constituted  authorities  as  an  alien 
element  and  disturbing  force.  Thus  the  freedom  of 
the  spirit  ever  struggles  for  existence  in  bodies 
where  the  practice  of  infant  baptism  obscures  or 
nullifies  conversion,  and  where  centralized  power 
suppresses  democracy. 

Foreign  Missions  and  the  Churches. 

The  progress  of  foreign  missions  is  a  matter  of 
vital  moment  to  the  churches  of  Jesus  Christ.  Presi- 
dent C.  C.  Hall  in  his  recent  work,  "  The  Universal 
Elements  of  the  Christian  Religion,"  has  discussed 
the  question  of  church  organization  and  of  foreign 
missions  in  a  suggestive  and  fruitful  way.  He  does 
not  commit  himself  to  the  idea  of  democracy  in  the 
church  in  any  formal  way.  But  his  entire  plea  looks 
in  that  direction. 

Referring  to  the  church  troubles  in  Scotland  due 
to  "  technicalities  in  a  trust  deed  given  sixty  years 
ago,"  and  to  the  pending  struggle  of  the  Noncon- 
formists of  England  against  the  Education  Bill 
Doctor  Hall  says :  "  Assuredly  the  ongoing  of  truth 
is  not  to  be  holden  by  parliamentary  decisions.    God 


BAITISTS   AND    WORLD   PROGRESS  29I 


may  have  in  his  plan  not  the  disestablishment  of 
the  Church  of  England  only,  but  that  larger  dis- 
establishment of  the  whole  sectarian  principle  which 
implies  reorganization  on  simpler  lines  of  service 
with  faith  and  love,"  ^ 

Denominationalism  and  Missions. 

Coming  then  to  the  discussion  of  denominational- 
ism in  relation  to  missions  Doctor  Hall  declares  that 
it  is  not  expedient  to  attempt  to  perpetuate  the  vari- 
ous forms  of  modern  Protestantism  on  the  mission 
fields  of  the  East.  It  is  confusing  and  disastrous.  He 
pleads  rather  for  some  simpler  form  of  Christianity 
which  contains  only  its  universal  elements  as  these 
lay  in  the  mind  of  Christ.  Such  a  form  would 
allow  scope  for  the  unfolding  of  the  spiritual  life  of 
China  and  Japan  and  India  according  to  its  own 
needs  and  conditions.  It  is  wrong  to  compel  the 
East  to  wear  the  highly  developed  ecclesi-astical 
armor  of  the  West. 

President  Hall  says :  "  It  is  vain  to  make  a  cal- 
culation of  the  number  of  those  for  whom  the 
denominational  aspects  of  the  church  are  already 
dim,  as  the  outlines  of  a  receding  coast,  and  on  the 
horizon  line  of  whose  hope  is  rising  the  image  of  a 
more  glorious  and  homogeneous  church,  not  having 
spot  or  wrinkle  or  any  such  thing ;  a  church  of  the 
Hving  God,  the  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth,  built 
upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Je- 

'  "  Universal  Elements  of  the   Christian  Religion,"  p.  94. 


292  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

sus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief  Corner-stone."  ^ 
Again,  he  says  whatever  form  the  new  interpretation 
of  the  church  may  take,  it  "can  crystalhze  around 
one  axis  only — the  Cross  of  the  Redeemer.  Give 
that  and  all  else  is  given.  Give  that  and  all  are  one 
in  him.  This  crystallizing  of  unorganized  sentiment 
into  a  reinterpretation  of  the  church  on  non-sec- 
tarian lines  would  be,  not  a  new  ecclesiastical  unity 
— not  a  new  dogmatic  unity — that  were  but  to  im- 
pose a  new  Catholicism,  to  revive  the  dream  of  an 
external  seat  of  human  authority,  to  give  the  stone 
of  death  for  the  bread  of  life.  The  next  great 
reinterpretation  of  the  church  must  be  through  the 
centralizing  power  of  the  Eternal  Truth  Hfted  up 
and  drawing  men  unto  itself,  with  the  vitalizing 
power  of  the  Eternal  Spirit  giving  liberty  unto  every 
man.  Through  such  a  church  the  Christianization 
of  the  world  becomes  possible,  if  not  immediate. 
The  witness  of  such  a  church  would  be  an  irresist- 
ible witness.  The  effect  of  such  a  church  would  be 
the  advent  and  fruition  of  the  kingdom  of  God."  ^ 

The  writer  has  no  desire,  of  course,  to  construe 
the  language  of  another  in  a  way  which  its  author 
would  repudiate.  Nor  does  he  wish  to  ascribe  to 
President  Hall  views  identical  with  his  own  as  to  the 
essential  elements  of  Christianity.  But  the  careful 
reader  will  discern  very  clearly  in  the  preceding  sen- 
tences of  Doctor  Hall  the  substance  of  the  "  Axioms 

1  "  Universal  Elements  of  the  Christian  Religion,"  p.  97. 
» Ibid.,  pp.   98,  99. 


BAPTISTS   AND   WORLD   PROGRESS  293 

of  Religion  "  as  set  forth  in  this  volume :  The  soul's 
direct  relation  to  God's  Spirit,  the  union  of  believers 
in  the  truth,  the  equality  of  men  before  God,  the 
central  position  of  the  cross  of  Christ  in  human 
redemption,  and  the  competency  of  the  soul  in 
religion  under  God. 

Christian  Union  and  the  Voluntary 
Principle. 

It  should  be  noted  here  that  modern  progress 
toward  Christian  union  is  shut  up  to  the  voluntary 
principle  as  the  only  pathway  toward  the  goal. 
There  is  no  way  in  which  a  law  of  unity  can  be 
imposed  from  without.  It  can  therefore  find  ex- 
pression only  through  an  inward  movement  which  is 
free  and  voluntary.  Systems  therefore,  which  are 
based  on  authority  are  prevented  by  virtue  of  that 
fact  from  supplying  the  principle  of  union,  unless 
it  be  supposed  that  the  free  bodies  will,  with  grow- 
ing intelligence  and  spirituality,  choose  to  assume 
a  yoke  of  ecclesiastical  authority.  This  is  scarcely 
conceivable.  Birds  which  have  been  confined  in 
cages  may,  through  force  of  habit,  fly  back  into  them 
after  being  released ;  but  the  birds  which  never  knew 
anything  but  God's  free  atmosphere  and  overarching 
heavens  will  scarcely  fold  their  wings  and  hop  into 
a  prison.  Revolutions,  religious  as  well  as  political, 
never  go  backwards.  The  planet  in  the  solar  system 
may  be  tilted  more  or  less  on  its  axis,  and  it  may 
vary  somewhat  in  its  distance  from  the  sun,  but  it 


294  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

never  reverses  the  direction  of  its  rotation.  The 
swing  of  the  spiritual  movement  is  away  from 
human  authority  in  religion,  not  toward  it. 

The  axioms  of  religion  do  not  require  external 
uniformity  in  the  mechanical  sense.  "  Organic  " 
church  union  is  not  necessary  to  union  in  Christ. 
Every  other  body  might  become  Baptist  in  doctrine 
and  polity  and,  if  it  saw  fit,  remain  distinct  from  the 
present  Baptist  denomination  in  organized  effort. 
Baptist  principles  require  the  utmost  freedom  in 
these  things.  This  point  is  emphasized  here  to  show 
that  the  writer  is  not  dealing  with  the  subject  of 
Christian  union  in  a  merely  sectarian  spirit,  with  a 
desire  merely  to  have  others  "  come  over  and  join 
us."  If  bodies  of  Christians  can  find  sufficient 
grounds  for  separate  organizations  for  general  mis- 
sionary and  benevolent  purposes,  Baptists  have  no 
word  of  objection,  only  let  them  restore  to  humanity 
their  spiritual  rights  under  God,  as  Christ  and  his 
apostles  have  revealed  them  to  us. 

The  Axioms  of  Religion  as  a  Religious 
Force. 

To  sum  up  now  this  section  of  our  discussion  we 
assert  that  as  a  religious  force  in  the  progress  of  the 
race  the  axioms  of  religion  are  of  incalculable  value 
first,  because  all  forms  of  human  freedom  are  ulti- 
mately grounded  in  religious  freedom.  Evangelism 
or  its  equivalent  in  religious  instruction  is  the  usual 
method  by  which  religious  freedom  in  the  deepest, 


BAPTISTS  AND  WORLD   PROGRESS  295 

truest  sense  is  achieved  for  individual  souls,  and  the 
method  through  which  the  emancipating  power  of 
religion  becomes  active  and  potent  in  human  society  ; 
and  evangelism  is  a  concrete  expression  of  the 
principles  of  the  axioms  at  a  particular  point. 

These  statements  admit  other  ways  of  bringing 
saving  truth  to  the  soul,  as  well  as  all  forms  of 
Christian  nurture.  Evangelism  is  simply  the  most 
convenient  illustration  of  the  principle.  Secondly, 
the  value  of  the  axioms  is  further  seen  in  that,  ac- 
cording to  Mr.  Brace,  their  loss  from  early  Chris- 
tianity robbed  the  church  of  its  power  as  a  great 
social  force;  their  loss  from  modern  European 
Christianity,  according  to  Harnack,  imperils  those 
spiritual  rights  of  man  against  the  loss  of  which  he 
so  vigorously  protests ;  and  their  presence  alone,  ac- 
cording to  President  Hall,  will  impart  the  sim- 
plicity and  homogeneity  necessary  in  propagating 
Christianity  in  the  Orient.  Thirdly,  the  voluntary 
principle  underlying  the  axioms  at  every  point,  in 
the  nature  of  the  case,  is  the  chief  dependence  in 
efforts  for  Christian  union. 

Intellectual  Force  and  Axioms  of  Religion. 

2.  We  next  consider  the  axioms  of  religion  as  an 
intellectual  force  in  world  progress.  Here  it  will 
be  sufficient  to  note  their  relation  to  three  intellectual 
movements,  modern  educational  theory,  modern 
science,  and  modern  philosophy. 

First,  modern  pedagogy  and  educational  theory. 


296  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

A  brief  sketch  of  the  progress  of  the  principles  of 
pedagogy  through  history  will  aid  us  in  realizing 
the  truth.  Prof.  Paul  Monroe  in  his  "  Text-book  in 
the  History  of  Education  "  has  given  an  excellent 
outline.  A  chief  virtue  in  his  manner  of  pre- 
sentation lies  in  the  fact  that  he  relates  educa- 
tional method  everywhere  to  the  development  of 
personality. 

Among  the  Chinese  we  find  one  of  the  most  prim- 
itive forms  of  education.  As  Professor  Monroe  says, 
Chinese  education  is  education  by  "  recapitulation." 
The  pupil  simply  memorizes  the  details  of  Chinese 
life  and  literature.  Charles  Lamb's  humorous  essay 
on  the  origin  of  roast  pig  suggests  the  method  of 
Chinese  education.  A  Chinaman  upon  returning 
home  found  his  house  burned  and  his  pig  dead  and 
roasted  to  a  brown.  By  accident  his  son  burnt  his 
finger  on  the  roasted  pig  and  put  it  in  his  mouth  for 
relief.  Thus  he  discovered  the  savory  qualities  of 
roast  pig.  Henceforth  when  this  article  of  food  was 
desired  the  Chinese  method  was  to  shut  up  the  pig 
in  the  dwelling  and  burn  the  latter  to  the  ground. 
In  other  words,  the  Chinese  pupil  is  a  slavish  copy- 
ist. Here,  of  course,  is  no  play  for  personality. 
Originality  is  at  a  discount.  Repression  and  sup- 
pression of  individuality  rule  in  all  effort. 

As  contrasted  with  that  of  the  Chinese,  Greek 
education  was  "  progressive  adjustment,"  a  vast  ad- 
vance upon  the  Chinese.  Here  personality  and  indi- 
viduality come  into  view  in  some  measure  at  least. 


BAPTISTS  AND   WORLD  PROGRESS  297 

The  principle  of  growth  is  recognized.  The  adjust- 
ment sought  was  progressive,  it  was  an  adjustment 
to  the  world  of  practical  life  and  the  world  of 
thought.  Greek  education  aimed  to  make  a  man  a 
free  citizen.  But  it  too  came  far  short.  It  was 
aristocratic.  Women  and  slaves  were  left  out  of  the 
account.  So  also  was  the  future  life.  The  soul  for 
its  own  sake,  the  worth  of  man  as  man  they  did  not 
appreciate. 

Roman  education  was  similar  to  the  Chinese  in 
that  it  had  chiefly  the  aim  of  equipping  the  boy  for 
practical  life.  The  Roman  boy  must  also  imitate, 
copy,  gather  up  in  himself  what  the  past  knew  and 
especially  what  it  did.  The  models  for  imitation 
were  higher  than  among  the  Chinese,  but  in- 
itiative was  wanting  here  also.  Individuality  was 
suppressed. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  and  in  modern  times  educa- 
tion was  regarded  chiefly  as  discipline.  To  drill  the 
mind,  give  it  bone  and  sinew,  so  to  speak,  and  make 
it  capable,  this  has  been  the  aim.  The  preferences  of 
the  child,  his  aptitudes,  and  individual  disposition 
or  genius,  were  ignored.  The  practical  value  of  the 
study,  its  immediate  utility  counted  for  nothing. 
The  school  was  simply  a  gymnastic  exercise. 

Rousseau  transferred  the  emphasis.  Remove  the 
trammels.  Let  nature  have  its  course.  Do  not 
force  traditions  and  old  customs  and  ancient 
methods  upon  the  child.  Let  its  own  nature  unfold 
like  a  flower  in  the  sun.    Respect  individuality.  This 


298  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

was  Rousseau's  plea.  It  was  one-sided,  defective, 
inadequate.    But  it  contained  a  profound  insight. 

Rousseau  was  followed  by  Pestalozzi  who  simply 
gave  form  and  added  some  positive  elements  to 
Rousseau's  conception.  The  teacher  can  only  assist 
the  child  to  develop.  Follow  the  free  natural  bent  of 
the  child.  Ordinary  schools  are  "  stifling  machines." 
Up  to  five  years  of  age  the  child  is  free.  Nature 
lies  before  him  in  entrancing  beauty.  His  nature 
responds  and  unfolds.  Then  we  clap  him  into  a 
dungeon.  Intellectually  we  murder  him.  Nay,  nay, 
says  Pestalozzi.  Education  is  symbolized  by  a  tree 
growing  from  a  seed  under  the  influence  of  rich 
soil  and  fertilizing  waters.  It  is  spontaneous,  free, 
progressive,  and  after  its  kind. 

Pestalozzi,  however,  went  only  part  of  the  way. 
He  confined  his  view  to  impressions  upon  the  senses 
from  external  nature.  The  moral  element  was  lack- 
ing. Herbart  introduced  it.  Use  sense  perceptions 
as  the  basis  for  moral  training,  urged  Herbart.  Let 
the  mind  of  the  child  obtain  impressions  from  nature 
and  from  society.  Then  on  the  basis  of  these  im- 
pressions and  this  knowledge  seek  to  develop  moral 
character.  A  chief  point  of  Herbart's  psychology  is 
apperception — building  at  each  stage  on  the  mate- 
rial preexisting  in  the  mind.  It  is  like  the  evan- 
gelist's work  of  putting  the  sinner  "  on  the  clew," 
as  Doctor  Mabie  expressed  it. 

The  modern  educational  movement  may  in  a  true 
sense  be  said  to  culminate  in  Froebel.    He  gathers 


BAPTISTS  AND   WORLD  PROGRESS  299 

Up  the  best  elements  in  his  predecessors  and  adds 
some  of  his  own.  Beyond  others  he  recognizes  the 
freedom  and  personaHty  of  the  child.  Particularly 
did  he  lay  stress  upon  the  fact  that  the  mind  of  the 
child  is  creative  and  not  merely  receptive.  Self- 
activity  is  its  fundamental  law.  The  mind  is  not 
a  box  into  which  you  are  to  put  all  kinds  of  coins 
for  safe-keeping.  It  is  a  living,  growing  thing. 
Education  is  not  information,  it  is  self-realization. 
Froebel  held  that  the  ultimate  fact  and  bond  of  all 
unity  is  God.  He  says :  "  All  things  have  come 
from  Divine  Unity,  from  God,  and  have  their  origin 
in  the  Divine  Unity  in  God  alone."  The  child  then, 
in  its  education,  should  learn  of  God.  This  is  the 
one  great  comprehensive  fact  of  all  life.  Nature 
everywhere,  as  a  symbol,  reveals  God,  and  through 
it  the  child  should  learn  of  God. 

Culmination  of  the  Educational  Process. 

Here  then  the  educational  process  culminates  in 
the  axioms  of  religion.  The  right  of  the  child  to 
its  individuality  in  education,  to  direct  access  to  God, 
its  equality  of  privilege  in  the  schoolroom  with  all 
other  children,  its  freedom  and  responsibility,  its 
self-activity,  these  are  Froebel's  fundamental  princi- 
ples. Their  exact  counterpart  in  ecclesiastical  and  re- 
ligious life  is  what  we  have  pleaded  for  in  this  work. 
It  is  not  strange  that  Froebel  himself  was  a  deeply 
religious  man.  We  see  how,  step  by  step,  educa- 
tional theory  and  method  have  made  their  way  back 


300  THE   AXIOMS   OF   RELIGION 

to  the  great  universals  of  Christianity,  the  first 
principles  of  religion.  Thus  we  see  how  one  genera- 
tion has  added  to  the  work  of  another.  Each  great 
thinker  has  carried  the  truth  a  step  beyond  his  prede- 
cessor. Like  a  succession  of  great  sculptors  chisel- 
ing a  beautiful  statue  out  of  marble,  each  has  laid 
down  the  mallet  and  chisel  with  the  work  un- 
finished. Now  that  the  truth  of  educational  theory 
and  practice  begins  to  be  seen  as  a  whole,  we  may 
discern  how  the  crude  beginnings  of  the  Chinese 
even  are  gathered  up  in  the  result.  We  see  also  the 
greatness  of  Jesus,  the  King  among  teachers,  and 
how  our  best  thoughts  and  maturest  theories  as 
to  the  priceless  value  of  the  soul,  the  unique  mean- 
ing of  personality,  individuality,  and  freedom,  are 
but  dim  reflections  of  the  truth  as  embodied  in  and 
taught  by  him.  We  also  see  how  potent  are  the 
axioms  of  religion  as  an  intellectual  force  in  the 
progress  of  the  world. 

There  have  been  developments  since  Froebel,  of 
course,  but  none  that  are  radical  or  fundamental. 
The  combination  of  the  idea  of  discipline  with  that 
of  interest  is  now  being  wrought  out.  It  was  clearly 
perceived  that  the  figure  of  the  flower  unfolding  in 
the  sun  was  not  sufficient  of  itself  to  express  the 
process.  Flowers  do  not  become  petulant  and  unruly. 
They  do  not  disobey  and  play  truant.  Children,  in 
short,  have  wills,  and  evil  impulses  lead  them  astray. 
Self-control  and  intellectual  and  moral  mastery  of 
self  must  be  achieved  by  eflfort,  by  self-denial  and  dis- 


BAPTISTS  AND  WORLD  PROGRESS  30I 

cipline.  Thus  the  two  ideas  are  being  fused  into  one 
in  the  best  recent  educational  method.  Our  sketch 
does  not  require  that  we  include  later  movements. 
Nor  has  it  required  that  we  discuss  the  philosophic 
theories  of  the  men  whom  we  have  been  reviewing. 
We  have  sought  simply  to  indicate  the  relation  of 
the  development  to  our  general  point  of  view. 

Relations  to  Science  and  Philosophy. 

We  need  add  but  few  words  upon  the  other  two 
topics  under  our  present  head,  the  relation  of  the 
axioms  of  religion  to  science  and  philosophy.  In 
a  previous  chapter  intimations  have  been  given. 
Moreover,  the  reader  will  perceive  the  truth  on  this 
point  without  difficulty.  Science  results  from  the 
direct  and  free  approach  of  competent  observers  to 
the  world  about  us.  Philosophy  is  born  of  the  free 
approach  of  human  thought  to  the  universe  of  ab- 
stract truth.  The  world  of  nature  and  the  world  of 
thought,  these  are  the  regions  in  which  the  men  of 
science  and  the  students  of  philosophy  ply  their  call- 
ings. Both  these  forms  of  activity  and  the  rights  of 
both  sets  of  observers  are  implicit  in  the  right  of 
all  men  to  direct  access  to  God. 

The  axioms  of  religion  assume  the  following:  i. 
The  correspondence  and  ultimate  agreement  between 
external  truth  and  the  powers  of  the  human  mind. 
2.  That  man  is  capable  of  grasping  the  truth  as  to 
his  relations  to  the  universe.  3.  That  the  ultimate 
object  of  man's  thought  and  devotion  on  the  one 


302  THE  AXIOMS  OF  RELIGION 

hand  and  the  human  mind  on  the  other,  act  and 
react  upon  each  other  in  such  a  way  that  they  will 
finally  come  to  mutual  adjustment.  Time  will  be 
required  of  course.  The  Christian  assumption  that 
God  is  seeking  man  as  well  as  man  seeking  God  is  of 
far-reaching  import  for  philosophy.  The  compe- 
tency of  the  soul  in  religion  under  God  is  the 
guarantee  of  the  competency  of  man  as  an  investi- 
gator in  God's  universe.  Science  has  not  always 
been  open-eyed  to  spiritual  truth.  Philosophy  has 
sometimes  groped  in  the  darkness  and  floundered  in 
the  quagmire  of  materialism.  But  to-day  men  of 
science  and  of  philosophy  are  gazing  upward  as 
never  before.  The  light  of  the  eternal  is  beginning 
to  beam  on  them.  Men  have  delved  into  nature,  they 
have  tunneled  through  the  material  world  in  the  dark 
until  they  have  suddenly  broken  through  upon  the 
vision  of  the  pearly  gates  of  the  beautiful  city  of 
God.  We  are  beginning  to  see  that  the  city  of 
nature  which  science  is  building  is  but  the  counter- 
part of  the  city  of  grace  which  revelation  disclosed 
to  John  on  the  isle  of  Patmos.  The  city  from  below 
is  rising  to  meet  the  city  from  above,  the  New 
Jerusalem  which  is  coming  down  from  God  to  this 
earth.  The  two  cities  will  become  one.  The  empire 
of  truth  has  no  mountain  barriers,  no  oceans  rolling 
impassably  between  the  scattered  parts.  For  we 
hasten  to  the  time  when  there  will  be  "  no  more 
sea."  "  And  there  shall  be  no  night  there,  For  the 
Lord  God  giveth  them  light." 


baptists  and  world  progress  303 

The  Axioms  as  a  Social  Force. 

3.  We  next  glance  briefly  at  the  axioms  as  a  social 
and  political  force  in  world-progress.  We  have 
shown  that  the  axioms  require  democracy  in  the 
church.  In  a  preceding  chapter  we  have  pointed 
out  their  relations  to  American  civilization.  In  so 
doing  we  have  rendered  unnecessary  an  extended 
discussion  of  our  present  topic.  A  few  general 
remarks  will  suffice. 

What  then  is  the  probable  direction  of  the  social 
and  political  progress  of  mankind?  The  negative 
side  of  the  reply  can  be  given  easily.  Surely  the 
world  will  not  return  to  autocracy,  or  monarchy,  as 
the  ideal  of  human  government.  The  blood  shed  at 
Marston  Moor  and  at  Naseby,  that  which  drenched 
the  earth  at  Saratoga  and  Yorktown  will  cry  out 
forever  against  it.  Again,  men  will  not  return  to 
aristocracy.  They  will  not  set  up  an  oligarchy  and 
give  it  plenary  powers.  Feudalism  is  dead.  Theoc- 
racy again,  in  the  sense  of  the  Middle  Ages,  is  out 
of  the  question.  God's  reign  through  an  autocratic 
head  of  the  church  may  remain  for  a  time  as  a 
form  of  human  government.  But  the  stars  in  their 
courses  fight  against  it.  Every  movement  toward 
liberty  and  enlightenment  opposes  it. 

Democracy  holds  the  future.  Every  barrier  to  the 
free  expression  of  the  will  of  the  people,  to  the  ulti- 
mate authority  of  the  people  in  civil  government 
must  and  will  be  broken  down.    The  signs  are  mul- 


304  THE  AXIOMS  OF  RELIGION 

tiplying  all  about  us  that  even  in  America  we  are 
not  satisfied  with  our  approximation  to  democratic 
government.  The  adoption  of  the  initiative  and  ref- 
erendum by  one  State,  and  the  growing  interest  in 
these  expedients  of  governments,  are  one  of  the  signs 
of  the  times.  The  tendency  to  the  popular  election 
of  senators  is  another.  This  is  already  being  ac- 
complished indirectly  in  many  States  without  a 
specific  law  on  the  subject.  We  cite  these  things 
not  to  approve  or  condemn  but  only  as  marking 
tendencies.  The  rising  tide  of  moral  sentiment 
against  the  corrupt  government  of  cities  is  a  sig- 
nificant evidence  of  the  direction  in  which  our  life 
is  tending.  A  look  at  Russia,  and  India,  and  Japan, 
and  at  European  countries,  confirms  the  view  that 
democracy  holds  the  future.  It  may  come  slowly. 
It  may  not  always  find  the  same  formal  expression, 
but  it  will  come.  The  world  is  becoming  conscious 
of  itself.  The  prodigal  in  the  far  country  is  com- 
ing to  himself.  He  will  arise  and  return  to  his  home 
and  his  inheritance.  The  prisoner  in  bonds  is  be- 
ginning to  discern  that  the  chains  of  tyranny  which 
bind  him  are  rusting  in  two.  He  will  arise  in  his 
might  and  cast  them  off. 

A  New  Force. 

A  new  force  which  is  making  itself  powerfully 
felt  in  modern  life  is  Socialism.  Many  assert  that 
this  form  of  propaganda  holds  the  key  to  the  future. 
What  have  the  axioms  of  religion  to  say  regarding 


BAPTISTS  AND  WORLD  PROGRESS  305 

Socialism?  The  reply  is  that  the  axioms  are  anti- 
socialistic  but  righteous.  They  stand  for  the  volun- 
tary readjustment  of  economic  conditions  in  right- 
eousness, not  their  compulsory  adjustment.  Socialism 
recognizes  the  terrible  inequality  of  material  condi- 
tions, the  pitiless  cruelty  of  the  competitive  system  at 
many  points.  It  says  turn  over  the  instruments  of 
production  to  the  State.  Abolish  competition.  Pro- 
vide for  each  man  according  to  his  needs.  Exact 
from  each  according  to  his  strength. 

But  individualism  is  a  fact  of  human  life  and  of 
Providence.  Inequalities  in  human  personality  will 
always  create  inequalities  of  condition.  The  social- 
istic scheme  ignores  this  fact  of  Providence.  It 
seeks  to  cure  a  recognized  evil  by  ignoring  a  fact 
which  is  organic  in  human  nature,  and  which  be- 
longs to  the  providential  order.  Socialism  will 
modify  the  present  social  order  at  many  points,  but 
it  cannot  permanently  reorganize  society.  God  loves 
us  too  much  to  be  content  with  anything  but  our 
best.  Enforced  equality  is  not  the  best  achievement 
of  man  in  government.  Voluntary  readjustment  in 
equity  and  love  is  the  best.  Unregenerate  majorities 
may  thrust  Socialism  upon  men  for  a  time.  It  will 
not  endure  because  it  does  not  express  finality  in 
economics,  morals,  or  religion.  The  socialistic  prop- 
aganda borrows  its  glamour  by  contrast  with  pres- 
ent conditions  which,  in  truth,  are  bad  enough.  But 
the  best  always  comes  slowly.  Undue  haste  is  often 
fatal  in  moral  and  spiritual  movements. 
U 


306  the  axioms  of  religion 

Socialism  and  Axioms  of  Religion. 

The  axioms  of  religion  leave  room  for  all  that  is 
worth  while  in  Socialism.  But  they  also  recognize 
individualism.  The  axioms  of  religion,  on  the 
economic  side,  conform  to  the  parable  of  the  Talents. 
They,  with  Christ,  take  into  account  that  one  man 
has  five  talents,  another  two,  another  one.  Socialism 
asserts  that  no  man  shall  have  five.  If  nature  en- 
dows him  with  five  times  the  ability  of  his  neighbor 
Socialism  says  he  shall  not  have  scope  for  its  full 
exercise.  Socialism  not  only  protests  against  the 
overman  of  Nietzsche,  the  ruthless,  pitiless  giant 
spurning  love  and  kindness  as  weak  and  effem- 
inate qualities ;  it  likewise  has  no  patience  with 
the  "  big  brother  "  of  Christianity.  Socialism  is  in 
straits  to  dispose  of  Christ  himself.  Sindbad  the 
sailor  was  shipwrecked  on  an  island  where  there 
was  a  giant  as  tall  as  a  palm  tree,  having  only 
one  eye  in  the  center  of  his  forehead,  with 
lips  that  hung  down  to  his  chest,  mouth  deeper 
than  that  of  a  horse,  and  ears  like  those  of  an 
elephant.  This  giant  picked  up  the  shipwrecked 
sailors  one  by  one  and  turned  them  around  and  in- 
spected them,  like  partridges,  and  selected  the  fattest 
for  supper.  When  his  hunger  returned  he  ate 
another  sailor.  Sindbad  himself  escaped  only  be- 
cause he  was  mostly  skin  and  bones. 

The  vision  of  such  a  monster  haunts  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  socialist.    But  his  fear,  while  not  wholly 


BAPTISTS  AND  WORLD  PROGRESS  307 

groundless,  may  be  offset  by  other  facts.  We  place 
over  against  this  gruesome  image  the  radiant  figure 
of  Jesus  Christ,  taller  than  all  the  sons  of  men,  and 
bearing  with  and  in  himself  all  the  resources  of  God 
to  regenerate  mankind.  The  type  that  is  arising  is 
the  great  man  after  Christ's  image,  great  in  thought, 
and  in  love;  great  to  will,  great  to  plan,  great  to 
execute.  All  the  race  is  rising  in  stature  with  him. 
All  will  not,  cannot  be  equal  in  mental,  moral,  or 
physical  stature.  But  all  have  equal  rights  and 
privileges,  all  are  equally  responsible,  all  who  obey 
God  are  hastening  to  the  glorious  image,  and  the 
glorious  estate  and  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  sons 
of  God. 

Axioms  and  Progressive  Civilization. 

We  conclude  this  long  chapter  and  end  our  task 
by  declaring  that  the  axioms  of  religion  derived 
from  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  are  fitted  to  lead  the 
progressive  civilization  of  the  race  for  the  following 
reasons :  First,  because  as  religious  ideals  they  sup- 
ply the  profoundest  basis  for  civilization.  Secondly, 
as  ideals  preserved  through  the  religious  life  of  man 
in  a  Church  which  is  separated  from  the  State  they 
can  influence  civilization  from  without  and  be  ex- 
empt from  the  peril  of  becoming  themselves  in- 
volved in  political  movements  and  thus  suffering 
corruption.  Thirdly,  because  they  embody  the  laws 
of  man's  intellectual  progress.  Fourthly,  because 
they   respect   and   conserve   every   fact   of   human 


308  THE  AXIOMS  OF  RELIGION 

nature  and  the  providential  order  of  the  world; 
man's  freedom  and  personality ;  his  capacity  in  art, 
morals,  government,  and  religion ;  his  passion  for 
growth  and  progress,  his  hunger  and  thirst  for 
God.  In  the  fifth  and  last  place,  because  they  con- 
ceive the  universe  as  a  kingdom  of  free  spirits 
wherein  under  the  tutelage  and  guidance  of  God 
man  is  to  work  out  his  destiny.  This  is  the  guar- 
antee that  that  kingdom  will  in  due  time  become 
a  kingdom  of  perfect  justice,  of  spotless  righteous- 
ness, and  enduring  love. 


GENERAL  INDEX 


Agnosticism,  a  belated  philosophy, 
66. 

Allen,  Prof.  A.  V.  G.,  on  Puritanism 
and  Monasticism,  135. 

American  Government,  and  a  New 
Testament  Church,  273. 

Anabaptists  :  their  part  in  separation 
of  Church  and  State,  48 ;  reject 
practice  of  infant  baptism,  107 ; 
faith  in  infants  denied  by,  109 ; 
stood  alone  for  all  Reformation 
signified,  258;  grasped  inner  logic 
of  Reformation,  259. 

Anglicans,  their  views  on  church 
polity,  139. 

Anglo-Saxons :  their  lo-ve  of  free- 
dom, 154;  their  principle  of  indi- 
vidualism, 57. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  quoted  on  "Na- 
ture and  Man,"  81. 

Augsburg  Confession,  The  :  its  defi- 
nition of  the  church,  138;  its  sev- 
enth article,  287. 

Autonomy  :  inherent  in  believer.s' 
life,  40  ;  Christ's  gift  of,  128 ;  an 
evil  of,  149. 

Axioms  of  Religion :  statement  of 
the  six,  73;  not  an  exhaustive 
creed,  74 ;  laws  of  the  kingdom 
of  God  embodied  in,  77;  their  po- 
litical counterparts,  273  ;  contain 
essential  elements  of  modern  civ- 
ilization, 279;  their  religious  and 
moral  force,  280;  as  a  religious 
force,  394  ;  as  an  intellectual  force, 
395;  their  relation  to  science  and 
philosophy,  301 ;  as  a  social  force. 


303 ;  and  progressive  civilization, 
307- 

Axiom,  The  Ecclesiastical :  ex- 
plained by  religious  axiom,  127. 

Axiom,  The  Moral:  stated,  150;  its 
appeal  to  our  self-consciousness, 
150  ;  infant  baptism  violates,  161. 

Axiom,  The  Religio-Civic  :  stated, 
185;  states  relations  between 
Church  and  State,  185;  difficulties 
arising  under  interpretation  of, 
197;  Luther,  Calvin,  and  Zwingli 
repudiated  modern,  259. 

Axiom,  The  Religious  :  stated,  92  ; 
asserts  the  principle  of  individual- 
ism, 93 ;  vital  to  Christianity,  94  ; 
cannot  be  annulled,  98 ;  violation 
of,  99 ;  infant  baptism  and,  100. 

Axiom,  The  Social,  201. 

Axiom,  The  Theological,  79. 

Baptism  :  as  symbol  of  truth,  41 ; 
not  saving,  94 ;  Roman  Catholi- 
cism gradually  corrupted,  loi ;  and 
heathen  rites,  102 ;  modern  exe- 
gesis favors  believers',  115,  122; 
Congregational  writer's  statement 
regarding,  121;  basis  for,  166;  a 
duty  universally  binding,  238  ;  pre- 
cedes  church-membership,  238; 
fixes  the  contents  of  faith,  242; 
sprinkling  destroys  meaning  of, 
245;  and  the  Lord's  Supper,  249. 

Baptism,  Infant  :  illustrating  depar- 
ture from  Christianity,  99  ;  difficul- 
ties in  Pedobaptist  denominations 
concerning,  63  ;  and  the  Reforma- 


310 


GENERAL   INDEX 


tion,  107 ;  Roman  Catholic  view 
of,  107;  irreconcilable  with  justi- 
fication by  faith,  108;  Lutheran 
view  of,  109 ;  Calvin's  view  of, 
no;  Presbyterian  view  of,  114; 
Methodist  teaching  regarding,  119  ; 
Congregational  views  on,  121  ; 
papacy  resulted  from,  144 ;  cardi- 
nal evil  of,  157;  radical  presuppo- 
sitions underlying  practice  of,  164  ; 
forestalls  evangelism,  281. 
baptists  :  and  missionary  and  social 
problems,  21;  historical  signifi- 
cance of,  44,  56;  in  Rhode  Island 
and  Virginia,  44,  187  ;  soul  freedom 
always  held  by,  47,  187 ;  their  con- 
ception of  Christianity,  50 ;  dis- 
tinctive principles  of,  50  ;  historical 
and  ecclesiastical  significance  of, 
j6  ;  political  significance  of,  57  ; 
often  misunderstood,  71  ;  essential 
views  held  by,  72  ;  their  new  de- 
fense, 73  ;  their  basis  of  faith,  74  ; 
set  forth  basis  of  agreement,  76 ; 
their  plea,  76  ;  origin  of  German, 
Russian,  and  Brazilian,  136;  their 
assumption  regarding  regenerated 
church-membership,  145  ;  and  or- 
ganization, 147,  212 ;  two  great 
conceptions  promulgated  by,  187, 
260  ;  and  Christian  union,  221 ;  and 
"  organic  "  union,  231,  294  ;  their 
contribution  to  American  civiliza- 
tion, 255 ;  interpreters  of  the  Ref- 
ormation, 258 ;  position  of,  as  to 
infants  dying  in  infancy,  260  ;  their 
spiritual  interpretation  of  Christi- 
anity, 261  ;  their  formal  articles  on 
missions  and  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  260;  and  denominational 
unity,  263  ;  their  capacity  for  elim- 
ination, 265  ;  and  liberty,  266-268  ; 
furnish  spiritual  analogues  of  po- 
litical system,  270;  their  bed-rock 
ideals,  275. 


Baptist  General  Organization  :  vol- 
untary principle  must  control  in, 
212  ;  its  results  achieved  by  prin- 
ciple of  federation,  226. 

Baptist  Young  People's  Union  of 
America,  signalizes  Baptist  genius 
for  integration,  264. 

Brace,  Loring,  testimony  of,  144, 
284. 

Bryce,  on  relations  between  Church 
and  State,  185,  186. 

Buckle,  on  relations  between  Church 
and  State,  186. 

Bushnell,  Dr.  Horace:  on  "Chris- 
tian Nurture,"  168 ;  and  the  Bap- 
tist position,  169;  his  position, 
171-173. 

Calvin  :  his  view  on  infant  baptism, 
J 10;  resorted  to  temporal  environ- 
ment, 138  ;  his  community  became 
a  theocracy,  138. 

Carey,  William,  mentioned,  187. 

Child,  the:  his  diflSculties  after  in- 
fant baptism,  159  ;  unconscious  de- 
velopment of  Christian  character 
in,  168;  should  become  consciously 
a  Christian,  176  ;  elements  of  Chris- 
tian life  in,  178;  conversion  of, 
178  ;  environment  of,  181. 

Christ :  God's  message  to  man,  30  ; 
access  to  God  through,  94 ;  the 
lordship  of,  128 ;  his  relations  to 
the  church,  130 ;  his  supreme  au- 
thority, 142;  and  the  will,  154;  his 
secret  of  authority,  156;  the  true 
imitation  of,  207  ;  claimed  by  revo- 
lutionaries of  all  kinds,  209. 

Christianity  :  and  social  service,  16  ; 
tendency  toward  an  anti-institu- 
tional, 19,  22  ;  a  relation  between 
God  and  man,  28  ;  elementary 
truths  in  Baptist  conception  of, 
50  ;  Roman  Catholicism  and  epis- 
copacy represent  dualistic,  63  ;  ax- 


GENERAL    INDEX 


311 


ioms  of,  73  ;  religious  axioms  vital 
to,  94;  infant  baptism  illustrating 
departure  from,  99  ;  forces  which 
shared  in  corruption  of  early,  100; 
pagan  rites  led  to  sacerdotal,  loi  ; 
infant  baptism  at  variance  with, 
119;  guided  by  a  new  law,  145; 
freedom  of,  154;  regenerated  indi" 
vidualism  necessary  in,  204;  its 
best  service,  210  ;  institutional  and 
anti-institutional,  235;  a  church- 
less,  23s;  advocates  of  "open 
membership"  rob,  253;  Baptists' 
spiritual  interpretation  of,  261. 

Christian  Nationalism,  Canon  Fre- 
mantle  maintains  theory  of,  192. 

Christian  Nurture:  Dr.  Horace 
Bushnell  on,  168 ;  principles  of 
natural  heredity  introduced  into, 
171  ;  principles  of,  173;  distinction 
between  old  and  new  covenants 
in,  179;  distinction  between  nat- 
ural and  spiritual  heredity  in,  176  ; 
environment  a  condition  of,  181  ; 
childhood,  strategic  point  in,  183. 

Christians,  classification  of,  206. 

Christian  Union  :  a  question  of  ad- 
justment, 17,  221  ;  axioms  form 
basis  for  discussion  of,  76 ;  Bap- 
tists and,  221  ;  in  the  deeper  sense, 
222  ;  proper  basis  of,  224  ;  twofold 
method  of,  228  ;  and  the  voluntary 
principle,  293. 

Church,  the :  its  relations  to  the 
kingdom  of  God,  36 ;  its  indiffer- 
ence to  social  conditions,  66  ;  and 
equal  privileges  in,  127;  twofold 
relationship  of  believer  and,  128; 
a  definition  of,  129 ;  legislation  not 
needed  in,  131  ;  Baptist  definition 
of,  132  ;  pure  democracy  in  New 
Testament,  131  ;  men  who  repudi- 
ate, 235;  theory  of  "  open  mem- 
bership" in,  236;  New  Testament 
teaching  regarding  organizing  of. 


238  ;  baptism  precedes  membership 
in,  238;  not  mechanically  con- 
structed, 250  ;  a  plea  in  favor  of 
"open  membership"  in,  244. 

Church  and  State :  seed  sown  for 
separation  of,  44 ;  struggle  for  su- 
premacy between,  47 :  Virginia 
Baptists  and,  49,  187;  competency 
of  the  soul  and  doctrine  of,  54  : 
Baptists  and  separation  of,  57; 
Hooker's  view  on,  138,  190;  Ro- 
manism's position  on,  139;  Pres- 
byterians and  Congregationalists 
believe  in  separation  of,  140;  ex- 
changed weapons,  145;  religio- 
civic  axiom  states  relations  be- 
tween, 185  ;  Baptists  promulgate 
doctrine  of,  188  ;  the  English  and 
relations  between,  190;  Gladstone 
quoted  on,  191  ;  Macaulay  quoted 
on,  191,  195;  Canon  Fremantle's 
view  concerning,  192  ;  and  Eng- 
lish thinkers,  193  ;  Roger  Williams' 
theory  of,  194  ;  their  functions  dis- 
tinct, 195;  modern  life  and,  233. 

Church-membership :  necessity  for 
a  regenerated,  54 ;  requirements 
for,  162 ;  opinions  regarding  re- 
quirements for,  236 ;  baptism  pre- 
cedes, 238. 

Church,  New  Testament :  pure  de- 
mocracy of,  131  ;  its  origin,  133  ; 
not  mechanically  constructed,  250  ; 
and  the  American  government,  273. 

Church  of  England,  Lambeth  Ar- 
ticles of,  221. 

Church  Order :  two  general  views 
regarding,  23  :  not  subject  to  or- 
dinary laws  of  expediency,  42. 

Church  Organization :  spiritual  af- 
finity leads  to,  35;  from  within, 
133;  from  without,  136;  its  prin- 
ciple reversed,  137  ;  taught  in  New 
Testament,  238 ;  and  foreign  mis- 
sions, 291 :  reinterpretation  of,  292. 


312 


GENERAL   INDEX 


Church  Polity :  and  spiritual  law, 
27  ;  spiritual  development  of,  132  ; 
temporal  development  of,  137;  va- 
rious modifications  of,  137;  An- 
glicans' and  Puritans'  views  on, 
139 ;  its  best  form,  210 ;  plea  for 
centralized,  216 ;  congregational 
form  of,  the  predestined  goal,  228. 

Church  State,  Baptists  oppose  the, 
212. 

Civilization  :  new  ethical  questions 
on  our,  206  ;  and  society,  255  ;  fun- 
damental law  of,  257  ;  Baptists  and 
spiritual  interpretation  of,  261  ; 
Baptists  and  idea  of  liberty  in 
American,  266;  religious  axioms 
and  advancing,  277,  280  ;  Guizot's 
idea  of,  277;  its  pivot,  279;  and 
evangelism,  282 ;  democracy  in 
church  a  religious  force  in,  283 
axioms  and  progressive,  307. 

Competency  of  the  Soul  in  Religion 
doctrine  of,  53-58 ;  Romanism  de 
nies,  59-63  ;  its  relation  to  Protes 
tantism  in  general,  63-65  ;  its  re 
lation  to  modern  progress,  65  ;  ax 
ioms  of  religion  outgrowth  of,  73 
platform  of  human  rights,  77  ;  Bap- 
tist views  on,  212 ;  political  side 
of,  271  ;  evangelism  and,  280. 

Congregationalism  :  capable  of  great 
diversity,  148 ;  direct  antithesis  of 
Romish  hierarchy,  129. 

Congregationalists :  and  status  of 
baptized  infants,  64,  123 ;  their 
"  Half-way  Covenant,"  120  ;  their 
attitude  toward  separation  of 
Church  and  State,  140. 

Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
its  first  amendment,  49,  269. 

Creeds  :  useful  or  divisive,  143  ;  Bap- 
tists have  no  binding,  146. 

Democracy  in  the  church  :  corollary 
of  doctrine  of  soul's   competency 


in  religion,  55  ;  author  of,  quoted. 
121  ;  of  New  Testament,  131,  134  ; 
accords  with  nature  of  kingdom  of 
God,  134 ;  successfully  worked, 
145;  its  equipment,  146;  modern 
life  and,  253  ;  analogous  to  repre- 
sentative government  in  the  State, 
272 ;  as  a  religious  force  in  civili- 
zation, 283 ;  Professor  Harnack 
favors,  285 ;  safeguards  spiritual 
rights  of  the  soul,  289. 

Denominationalism  :  new  test  of, 
12  ;  new  cohesive  principle  needed 
in,  19;  examined  in  light  of  New 
Testament  ideal,  27  ;  and  mis- 
sions, 291. 

Denominational  Unity,  and  Baptists, 
263. 

De  Tocqueville,  quoted,  252,  257, 
271. 

Doctrinal  Adjustment,  proDlem  of, 
13- 

Donatists,  their  offense,  134. 

Ecclesiastical  Development :  direc- 
tion of,  before  Reformation,  104 ; 
test  of,  141. 

Edification,  spiritual  law  of,  40. 

Education :  Chinese,  296 ;  Greek, 
296;  Roman,  297;  Rousseau's, 
Pestalozzi's,  Herbart's,  and  Froe- 

^  bel's  conceptions  of,  298 ;  culmi- 
nation of  process  of,  299. 

Election  :  God's  method  of,  85  ;  and 
man's  freedom,  86,  87. 

Episcopacy :  and  Roman  Catholi- 
cism, 66 ;  corruption  of  New  Tes- 
tament teaching,  100. 

Episcopalians :  missionary  and  so- 
cial problems  and.  21  ;  two  ways 
of  entering  church  held  by,  64. 

Erastianism,  its  powerful  influence, 
190. 

Ethical  Questions,  New :  illustrate 
progressive  civilization,  206. 


GENERAL   INDEX 


313 


Evangelism  :  and  the  soul's  com- 
petency, 280;  and  modern  civiliza- 
tion, 282 ;  expresses  principles  of 
the  axioms,  295. 

Faith  :  man's  response  and,  33 ;  im- 
mediate result  of  act  of,  33 ;  char- 
acterizes members  of  kingdom  of 
God,  34  ;  first  law  of  the  kingdom, 
38  ;  various  degrees  of,  242 ;  kept 
pure  by  ordinances,  242. 

Family,  The  ;  organic  unity  of,  168, 
171  :  and  church  distinct,  174. 

Federation,  The  Principle  of:  Bap- 
tists achieve  results  in  general  or- 
ganization by,  225. 

Filial  Service  :  spiritual  law  of,  39  ; 
axioms  of  religion  interpret  and 
explicate,  77. 

Freedom  :  against  heredity  and  ma- 
terialism, 151  ;  Jesus  taught  moral, 
152;  self-determination  of,  153; 
Anglo-Saxons'  love  of,  154  ;  power 
conjoined  with,  155;  Professor  Van 
Dyke  on,  163  ;  Roger  Williams  on 
religious,  268. 

Froebel,  modern  educational  move- 
ment culminates  in,  298. 

Germany,  origin  of  Baptists  in,  136. 

Gladstone,  his  view  of  Church  and 
State,  48,  191. 

Gnosticism,  shared  in  corruption  of 
early  Christianity,  100. 

God  :  Christianity  a  relation  between 
man  and,  28  ;  Christianity  empha- 
sizes Fatherhood  of,  29  ;  incarna- 
tion of,  58,  83 ;  sovereignty  of,  79, 
82 ;  his  method  necessarily  slow, 
84  ;  his  election  of  men  to  salva- 
tion, 85;  key  to  sovereignty  of,  89'; 
law  of  Christian  life  and,  92,  94  ; 
his  method  of  freeing  the  soul,  282. 

Gordon,  Dr.  A.  J.,  quoted  on  New 
Testament  Church,  133. 


Gordon,  Dr.  G.  A.,  his  doctrine  of 
divine  sovereignty  mentioned,  80. 

Gospel  or  Word  :  the  first,  31 ;  per- 
sonalized, 32. 

Guizot :  on  function  of  religion,  157  ; 
bis  idea  of  civilization,  277. 

Hall,  Pres.  C.C,  on  church  organiza- 
tion and  foreign  missions,  290,  291, 

Harnack,  Prof.  Adolf:  his  definition 
of  essence  of  Christianity,  235; 
bis  arraignment  of  Established 
Churches  of  Europe,  285. 

Heredity  :  natural  does  not  imply 
spiritual,  166;  natural  and  spir- 
itual, 176 

Hierarchy,  slowly  evolved,  103. 

Hodge,  Dr.  A.  A  ,  quoted  on  infant 
baptism,  114,  115. 

Holiness  :  spiritual  law  of,  41  ;  "Ax- 
ioms of  Religion"  interpret  and 
explicate,  77. 

Holy  Spirit,  his  agency  in  church 
organization,  133. 

Hooker,  his  view  of  Church  and 
State,  138,  190. 

Human  Body  and  The  Church,  The, 
130. 

Individualism  in  Religion  :  Anglo- 
Saxon  principle  of,  57 ;  principle 
of,  93  ;  an  over-emphasis  of,  148 ; 
social  theology  a  counterpoise  to, 
201  ;  Harnack  quoted  on,  235 ; 
Abbe  Loisy  quoted  on,  252  ;  Saba- 
tier  quoted  on,  252. 

Interdependence  and  Brotherhood, 
spiritual  law  of,  40. 

Jesuits,  their  view  on  Church  and 

State,  139. 
Judaism,    shared    in    corruption    of 

early  Christianity,  100. 
Justification  by  faith  :  Baptists  hold 

truth    of,    51 ;    doctrine    of   soul's 


314 


GENERAL   INDEX 


competency  includes,  54 ;  neces- 
sary to  cburcb-membersbip,  63  ; 
•nd  infant  baptism,  108. 

Keswick  Movement,  Tbe,  offers  a 
baven  for  spiritually  hungry,  290. 

Kingdom  of  God  :  divine  personal- 
ity, love,  revelation,  redemption, 
distinguishing  notes  of,  29  ;  initial 
stage  in  development  of,  31  ;  faith 
a  characteristic  of,  34  ;  relations  of 
church  to,  36;  spiritual  laws  of, 
38 ;  basis  of  agreement  formed  by 
assumptions  of  gospel  of,  76  ;  char- 
acteristics of  members  of,  96  ;  sum- 
mary of  characteristics  of,  97  ; 
church  polity  question  of  consti- 
tution of,  132  ;  distinction  between 
old  and  new  covenants  in,  i8o; 
and  church  not  identical,  243  ;  and 
the  church,  250;  authority  cannot 
be  localized  in,  272. 

Lambeth  Articles,  The :  a  platform 
for  Christian  union,  221  ;  serious 
objection  to,  223. 

Legislation,  not  needed  in  the 
church,  131. 

Liberty  :  spiritual  law  of,  39  ;  not  in 
peril,  241  ;  Baptists  gave  to  civili- 
zation complete  idea  of,  266  ;  Roger 
Williams  and  religious,  268. 

Loisy,  Abbe,  on  individualistic 
Christianity,  252. 

"  London  Confession,"  promulgated 
separation  of  Church  and  State,i88. 

Lord's  Supper,  The  :  as  symbol  of 
truth,  41 ;  Roman  Catholicism 
gradually  corrupted  ordinance  of, 
loi ;  and  baptism  symbolized  vital 
elements  in  Christianity,  249 ;  Bap- 
tists reject  sacramental  conception 
■     of,  261. 

Liitgert,  Prof.  Wilhelm,  on  infant 
baptism  controversy,  109. 


Lutheran  Church,  its  view  on  infant 
baptism,  109. 

Luther,  Martin  ;  ecclesiastical  con- 
ditions at  time  of  great  movement 
by,  104 ;  resorted  to  temporal  en- 
vironment, 138. 

Macaulay,  his  position  rega>ding 
Church  and  State,  igi. 

Man's  Freedom  and  Election,  86. 

Methodism,  identified  with  Estab- 
lished Church,  140. 

Methodists  :  pressure  of  missionary 
and  social  problems  felt  by,  21 ; 
their  teachings  regarding  infant 
baptism,  119. 

Missions  and  Denominationalism, 
291. 

Missions,  Foreign,  and  the  churches. 
Dr.  C.  C.  Hall  on,  290. 

Missions,  World-wide,  promulgated 
by  Baptists,  187,  260. 

Monasticism  :  spiritual  freedom  of, 
134  ;  perpetuated  by  Puritanism, 
135 ;  emphasized  worth  of  indi- 
vidual, 201. 

Monroe,  Prof.  Paul,  on  progress  of 
the  principles  of  education,  296. 

Nature  and  Man,  81. 

Newman, Cardinal, and  Development 
of  Christian  Doctrine,  23,  42,  142. 

Nonconformists  :  battling  for  relig- 
ious equality,  48 ;  their  churches 
modern  equivalents  of  monasti- 
cism, 135;  their  solution  of  Church 
and  State  problem,  190. 

Obedience  :  an  all-inclusive  Baptist 

principle,    51  ;     important     under 

soul's  competency,  56. 
Oncken,   his    influence    in    German 

Baptist  history,  136. 
Onderdonk,  Bishop  H.  U.,  his  theory 

on  infant  baptism,  113. 


GENERAL    INDEX 


315 


Opportunism  in  Control,  139. 

Ordinances :  as  symbols  of  truth, 
41  ;  transformed  from  symbols  into 
sacraments,  101-103 ;  a  plea  for 
excluding,  344-247  ;  their  proper 
place,  246 ;  symbolize  vital  ele- 
ments in  Christianity,  249. 

Papacy,  resulted  from  infant  bap- 
tism, 144. 

Pedobaptist  Denominations,  infant 
baptism  a  difficulty  in,  64. 

Philosophy  :  emphasizes  helplessness 
of  man,  81  ;  its  relation  to  axioms 
of  religion,  301. 

Presbyterians  :  pressure  of  problems 
felt  by,  21  ;  their  two  ways  of  sal- 
vation, 64;  their  doctrine  of  infant 
baptism,  114  ;  their  attitude  toward 
separation  of  Church  and  State, 
140;  seek  to  justify  their  system, 
272 

Priesthood :  an  idea  of  paganism, 
loi  ;  interposed  between  the  soul 
and  God,  103  ;  its  terrible  power 
of  spiritual  tyranny,  104  ;  not  in 
New  Testament  churches,  134. 

Problems  of  Adjustment  :  doctrinal 
adjustment  one  of,  13;  social  as- 
pect of,  16  ;  foreign  missionary  as- 
pect of,  17 ;  their  pressure  felt, 
21. 

Protestantism :  competency  of  the 
soul  in  relation  to,  63-65;  infant 
baptism  has  no  logical  place  in 
churches  of,  124. 

Puritanism,  perpetuates  monasti- 
cism,  135. 

Puritans,  their  views  on  divine  ori- 
gin of  church  polity,  139. 

Quakers,  ignore  ordinances,  248. 

Redemption  :  Christ  the  medium  of, 
30;  results  from  act  of  faith,  33. 


Reformation,  The  :  justification  by 
faith  a  principle  of,  57  ;  ecclesias- 
tical conditions  existing  at  begin- 
ning of,  104,  105  ;  principles  of,  105, 
106 :  infant  baptism  most  trouble- 
some question  of,  107 ;  polities 
arising  after,  139  ;  Baptists  inter- 
preters of,  258. 

Regeneration  :  results  from  act  of 
faith,  33 ;  a  basis  of  church  or- 
ganization, 35,  53 ;  implied  in 
principle  of  soul's  competency, 
54;  contains  seeds  of  all  righteous- 
ness, 205. 

Renaissance,  intellectual  principle 
of,  57. 

Revelation,  kingdom  of  God  distin- 
guished by  principle  of,  29. 

Rhode  Island,  Baptists  in,  44. 

Roman  Catholicism  :  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity quenched  by,  37;  its  the- 
ories regarding  the  ordinances, 
41 ;  its  system  at  variance  with 
New  Testament  ideals,  42,  43  ;  de- 
nies right  of  believer  to  interpret 
Scriptures,  52  ;  denies  soul's  com- 
petency in  religion,  59;  ordinances 
gradually  corrupted  by,  loi  ;  its 
position  regarding  Church  and 
State,  139 ;  a  Church  State,  210. 

Roman  Imperialism,  shared  in  cor- 
ruption of  early  Christianity,  100 

Romanists  and  the  Soul's  Compe- 
tency in  Religion,  59. 

Rousseau,  his  conception  of  educa- 
tion, 297. 

Russia,  origin  of  Baptists  in,  136. 

Sabatier,  on   peril  of  individualism 

in  religion,  252. 
Sacerdotalism  :  resultant  corruption 

of  New  Testament   teaching,  100 ; 

pagan  rites  led  to,  loi. 
Sacraments  :  as  ordinances  obscure 

faith,  41 ;  multiplied,  10, 


3i6 


GENERAL    INDEX 


Salvation  :  spiritual  law  of,  38  ;  ax- 
ioms of  religion  interpret  and  ex- 
plicate, 77;  expressing  God's  sov- 
ereignty, 83,  84  ;  God's  election  of 
men  to,  85 ;  sole  priesthood  of 
Jesus  as  author  of,  loi ;  its  greater 
conception,  205. 

Schaff,  Doctor,  quotations  from,  105, 
106. 

Science :  and  modern  philosophy, 
81 ;  and  axioms  of  religion,  301. 

Scriptures  :  best  interpreters  of,  13  : 
question  of  conformity  to,  25  ;  their 
authoritative  and  regulative  value, 
30;  Roman  Catholics  deny  right  to 
interpret,  52 ;  become  medium  of 
truth,  68 ;  the  rule  of  faith  and 
practice,  131  ;  Holy  Spirit  inter- 
preter of,  131 ;  as  a  guide  of  the 
church,  143 ;  binding  and  funda- 
mental, 237. 

Sin:  the  unpardonable  defined,  96; 
use  of  doctrine  of  original,  103. 

Smyth,  Dr.  Newman,  quoted,  162. 

Socialism  and  axioms  of  religion, 
304-307. 

Social  Service  :  and  Christianity,  16  ; 
opportunity  for,  203 ;  best  prepa- 
ration for,  209. 

Soul  freedom  always  held  by  Bap- 
tists, 47,  188. 

Spiritual  affinity  leads  to  church  or- 
ganization, 35. 

Spiritual  Laws  :  of  the  kingdom,  38  ; 
axioms  embodied  in,  77 

State  Church  :   Roman  Catholicism 

•  a,  210 ;  being  more  centralized  and 
secularized,  286  ;  Baptists  oppose, 
212. 

Strategic  Men  in  History,  87 

Testament,  New  :  variety  in  the  in- 
terpretation  of,   12 ;    new  test  of 


denominationalism  supplements 
teachings  of,  12 ;  two  views  of 
church  order  based  on  teachings 
of,  23  ;  its  teachings  as  to  kingdom 
of  God,  38 ;  Roman  Catholicism 
at  variance  with  ideals  of  religion 
of,  45 ;  competency  of  soul  a  prin- 
ciple of,  54  :  its  principles  of  the 
soul's  competency  violated,  65; 
its  teachings  held  by  Baptists,  72  ; 
its  great  assumptions,  74  ;  its  teach- 
ings regarding  the  religious  ax- 
iom, 94,  98;  its  teachings  alien  to 
infant  baptism,  115,  122  ;  its  part 
in  origin  of  Baptist  churches  in 
Germany,  Russia,  Brazil,  etc.,  136  ; 
its  assumptions  fundamental,  237  ; 
its  church  not  mechanically  con- 
structed, 250;  Baptists'  only  rule 
of  faith  and  practice,  262 ;  evan- 
gelism of,  280. 
Theology,  A  Social,  a  counterjwise 
to  individualism,  201. 

UixkuU,  Baron,  origin   of   Russian 

Baptist  movement  told  by,  136. 
Unitarians,  abjure  ordinances,  249. 

Van    Dyke,    Professor,    quoted    on 

freedom,  163. 
Virginia,  Baptists  in,  44 

Wilkinson,  Dr.  W.  C  ,  his  work  on 
the  "Baptist  Principle,"  52. 

Williams,  Roger  :  seed  of  doctrine  of 
soul  liberty  planted  by,  45,  268 ;  his 
theory  of  Church  and  State.  194. 

Word,  The,  or  Gospel  :  first,  31  ; 
personalized,  32;  man's  response 
to,  33- 

Worship  :  spiritual  law  of,  38  ;  "Ax- 
ioms of  Religion"  interpret  and 
explicate,  77. 


BX6331  .IVI95 

The  axioms  of  religion;  a  new 

Pnncelon  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00020  6930 


DATE  DUE 


rr 


111 


Demco.  Inc.  38-293 


